Shadowland
by Ptikobj
Summary: What can I say? This is definitely one of the worst pieces of writing I have ever seen, so please, don't judge me on this. If you must judge me, judge me by The Pride Lands: Part I.
1. Sapphire

Shadowland

Chapter 1

Sapphire

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way, except for being a fan of his work. Shadowland, Chapter 1: Sapphire is property of Troy Wong, a.k.a. Chookooblash, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission. If you want to contact me about anything you can reach me Mourns' (opening poem) was taken from The Lion King on Broadway, by Tsidii Le Loka.

I hope you enjoy reading my stories. Long live the king!

**Madi ao**

Spilled blood

**Leka sebete chia ho oele sebatha**

Try courage so beasts may fall

**Mo leka qeme o tsaba hoa**

Those who defy mountains, are, in truth, cowards

**Lebo haling ha o bue ka le ha**

Even in anger, you do not speak against wrong…

**Oh, oh… **

_Once upon a time lived a princess._

_This princess had a friend- a best friend, who she had always trusted. _

_But one day, on her fifth birthday, this friend was taken away from her by a mystical force. _

_And on her fifteenth birthday, her friend was returned to her with powers beyond anyone's imagination. _

_But in exchange for his powers, he was not allowed to see his best friend, the princess. Again and again he would be scolded and punished when he went to meet her. _

_And this made him grow angry. Very angry indeed. _

_With the powers he had been given, the princess' best friend, driven mad by anger, tore apart the kingdom, and sent everyone running. _

_And so, the kingdom was destroyed- the Circle of Life lost, but not lost forever. _

_Hundreds of years later, three would set out to bring it back. Not on their own free will, and not because of their own crazy reasons, but as a punishment. _

_At the end of their quest, they would be regarded as the greatest heroes that ever lived… _

Sapphire looked up at the dark, cloudless night sky. Illuminated by the silver glow of the moon, it put her in a trance. Her eyes glistened as the light from above danced on them. From outside, there came a sound of footsteps, disturbing the dry, grey dust on the ground, folding the yellow savannah grass under it's feet.

"What are you doing in there?" called a young, male voice. Whoever it was, he was waiting for an answer. "Don't think you can hide from me." he continued, chuckling.

"What are you doing up so late, Kiko?"

"The question is," Kiko replied, purposely positioning his head right in front of her, to block her view of the shining stars above "what are you doing up so late?", putting a particularly heavy emphasis on 'you'.

She pushed his head out of the way and let out a heavy sigh, then began, "Well…"

"Yes?" Kiko interrupted.

"Well, Kiko, I'm up so late because I'm allowed to be, and because I can't sleep. Now, how about you?" she asked.

"Well, uh…"

"Yes, that's an interesting answer."

"Oh, be quiet. I'm not done yet."

"Take your time, Kiko."

He gave her a dry look. "I'm up because… Because I can't sleep either." he answered, not sure of his own words.

"Oh, really? Is that so?" she replied in turn, disbelieving. "I bet you had another nightmare."

"No! I don't have nightmares anymore!" he shouted, almost trying to convince himself.

"It was that one where the ground cracks open, and stones fall from the sky…" Sapphire tried to scare him as she went along. He was just a kid. What was wrong with doing what she was doing? Kids grow up, and in time, he'll realise that what she said was just a bit of joking around. Or, was that just the reason that she shouldn't have?

"I told you! I don't have nightmares anymore, Sapphire!"

She ignored him and continued, "and then, the big monster comes…"

"No!" Despite his efforts, Kiko was getting more and more frightened by the second.

"It bends down, and roars… And then…"

"Rawr!" a monstrous, bellowing voice yelled from behind the child. Scared for his life, he darted into the cave, using Sapphire's tail as a shield. He stayed there as still as a large, cold, lonely stone, muttering under his breath, something along the lines of, "Please, please, please don't eat me… Please, please…" When he heard snickering coming from outside, he became suspicious. He poked his head out cautiously, slowly opening one of his tightly shut eyes, only to his brother, Orion, laughing himself crazy.

"That was great!" Sapphire managed to say, also laughing her head off, barely able to keep herself sitting up straight.

Orion wiped a tear from his eye as Kiko leaped out from the cave and pounced on him, harmlessly bouncing off. The larger, more powerful male looked over the weak child from above, still recovering from the earlier laugh riot. "Look, Kiko. I keep telling you, you shouldn't do that until you actually… Can."

"That was not, funny, Orion!" Kiko shouted from the ground, angrily.

"Well, to us it was." his brother replied.

Sapphire got up, off the ground and walked out of her cave, towards Orion. He'd been her best friend, ever since childhood; ever since they met. She was a loner on the outside, but on the inside, she wished ever so hard that she would someday have a friend to help her up when she fell, to make her laugh, and to play games with.

Orion continued, "So, you had another nightmare?"

"Yes." Sapphire answered, for Kiko.

"No!" he disagreed. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Mom sent me to find you and take you home, okay? Lets go."

"But Orion, I'm not tired!"

"Okay then. I'll take you home, and you can explain that to her."

"I'm not going! I'm can't slee- Whoa!" Kiko's temper tantrum-fuelled rambling was interrupted by his brother's giant jaws carefully picking him up, hoisting him off the ground.

"Gotcha." Mumbled Orion, with Kiko in his mouth.

"Hey! Lemme go! That hurts!" Kiko whined, trying to wiggle himself loose.

"Don't you know it's rude to talk with your mouth full?" Sapphire asked, playfully. They chuckled before she wished him a good night.

"Seeyah, Sapphire." he managed to reply.

Sapphire watched Orion walk away, with Kiko shouting for freedom, still trying to escape his jaws. She chuckled for the last time that night, then returned to her cave, eventually going to sleep. She needed all the rest she could get; by now it was nearly midnight, and Torres had arranged a hunt for the next day. Despite her young age, she was the best hunter in the pride, and she didn't want to let everyone down.

**xxx **

The sun rose, accompanied by the buzzing of small winged insects, taking flight for the first time that day, and calls of brightly coloured birds that resided near The Small Oasis, taking advantage of the shade, and water. Seeing as it was morning, the temperature hadn't risen very much at all, and the sun hadn't unleashed it's full fury onto the land. When that happened, herds of all sorts would congregate around that small pool, drinking all the water they needed for the day.

There was no 'legal' agreement, but the inhabitants of the land weren't foolish enough to take more than they needed. Water was scarce these days. It had been scarce ever since most of them could remember. Food was another issue. No one wanted to be on the menu, but on the other hand, others needed them to be, and as for the herbivores out there, plants seemed to be dying faster, and getting dryer lately.

Sapphire's nocturnal nature had done her in yet again. She woke up an hour late for the hunt, slowly opening her eyes, then walking outside, not before a yawn and a stretch. The golden rays of sunshine reflected from her beautiful, cream-coloured coat of fur, and at the same time, suddenly stung her pupils, forcing them shut again. She winced and turned away from the sun, eyes still screwed shut. Before Sapphire could muster the courage to open them up again, she heard Orion's voice speaking to her.

"Not again." he said.

"Again." Sapphire replied, still half asleep, still with her eyes closed.

"Everyone's waiting for you. Stay there for another hour, and it'll be too hot to hunt until evening."

"Maybe I should talk to the council about having our hunts in the evening." Sapphire walked further away from Orion, closer towards the hunting grounds. He watched her closely as she opened her eyes again, but, quickly turning away from the sun as soon as it's rays struck her eyes.

"You should get that checked for that eye problem." he suggested.

"Right. By who?"

"Coyle. Duh."

"Coyle? The sad excuse for a shaman?"

"You know shouldn't say that. Torres believes in him. He says that he has potential."

"Torres is a cruel tyrant. The only way he manages to keep control over us is by brute strength. I wouldn't trust a deceiver like him if I were you."

Orion paused, lost for words. He knew that what she was saying was true, but never wanted to admit it. Torres had never done anything for him, or for his family, but it didn't feel right to speak bad things about him behind his back. Torres was like a father to him during his childhood. His real father had disappeared before he was born, and his mother never spoke of it. But now, things were different. Torres had changed. He used to be honest, caring, and treated all his people with the respect they deserved. One day, he returned from a visit to a foreign land, and had never been the same. "All I'm saying, Sapphire-"

"Yes?" she interrupted.

"I believe that Coyle has the potential to become the shaman for the lions."

"You're siding with Torres?"

Coyle, the pride's 'shaman', approached from around the rocky corner that made the right wall of Sapphire's cave. "What's this talk about me, then?" he asked, before Orion could respond to Sapphire's earlier question.

"Oh, nothing, Coyle." Orion replied, instead. Sapphire turned around to meet him, eye to eye.

"Why are you here?" Sapphire asked.

"Well, when Orion failed to come back with you, Torres sent me to get you. That led me to thinking that you two were doing something… Else." he coughed, as to drop a hint.

Sapphire raised one eyebrow. "Is that the first thing that comes into your mind?"

Deeming Sapphire's question rhetorical, to his previous statement he added, "Oh, yeah, and by the way, the council wants me to go around checking everyone for illnesses. Have you guys got anything that I should worry about?"

"No." Sapphire hastily replied, almost shouting to beat Orion.

"Well, actually, Coyle…" Orion began to say, with a smile on his face, "my friend, Sapphire, here, is having problems adjusting to the morning light after sleeping."

"No! I don't. He lies. All lies. Don't listen to him. I'm not going, anyway."

Coyle looked towards her and chuckled. "You and Kiko are so alike, it's funny."

She stared at him blankly for a moment, then walked away, without a word. "Where are you going?" Coyle yelled, after her.

"To the hunt." she replied, plainly, without looking back at the two.

**xxx **

They'd been stalking the herd for at least an hour now, and just like Orion had predicted earlier, the sun had risen further, and made it far too hot to hunt. Sapphire glanced at the other lionesses crouched low in the grass, inching towards their oblivious prey. Some looked faint, exhausted by the heat.

She looked towards The Small Oasis, instead seeing a crowd of animals bundled so closely together, moving in front and behind each other in confusing waves. She knew it was noon, without even looking at the sun. More than an hour had passed, after all. The hunting party needed water. She wished that she'd woken up earlier, or even better, an hour later.

At this point, one of the wildebeests in the herd ahead lifted it's head up and looked directly towards Sapphire. She didn't know if it could see her, or not, but immediately, it let out a call, and the mass of horns and hoofs ran. Sapphire knew that this was their only chance. If they didn't give chase now, then they would have no chance of capturing anything until evening, and even then, they would barely be able to move from exhaustion.

Without a word, she bolted after them, the other lionesses following. As Sapphire neared, she noticed several wildebeest that had trouble keeping up with the rest, that ran behind the main body of the stampeding herd; the stragglers. There were at least ten of these, either the old, or the sick. It was unusual that such a large number of wildebeest in just one small herd were unwell at a time. It was just another sign that things in the land were getting far worse than they used to be.

One lioness, Gharah, had ran ahead, and was already closing in on one of the old, weak ones. She leaped at it once, failing to grab onto something, and losing precious metres. Sapphire passed her, and caught up with the prey. Before the doomed wildebeest could turn to see who was running beside it, she had dragged it down to the ground with a swipe to the flank, and a bite to the neck. Once it was down, she wasted no time, pouncing on it and going for the throat. In moments, it was over.

The other lionesses caught up to her, each one congratulating her on yet another clean kill. The male lions of the pride came soon afterwards.

"Nice one, Sapphire." said Orion, as he passed by.

"Remind me again why you guys don't hunt." she managed to say in return, still catching her breath.

"Tradition." he replied.

"Yeah, right. Just another excuse."

"Get out of the way!" Torres yelled violently, making his way through the crowd of lionesses that were subconsciously surrounding the fresh kill. He looked at it with eyes opened wide, as if he's never seen such a thing, and with his mouth open; drooling, with an absence of saliva. Unexpectedly, he threw the wildebeest onto his back, and without a word, he headed off towards the Dark Lands.

"Where are you going?" Daeon shouted after him. He was about the same age as Coyle, with a Black mane, and a dark brown coat. No reply came.

Coyle ran up to Torres, trying to stop him. Sapphire couldn't hear what they were saying from where she was, but it mustn't have been friendly, as Coyle was subsequently knocked to the ground seconds after approaching him. Gasps were heard from the lions as they saw what had just happened. Torres, their leader, whom they had put their trust in, had just stolen their food, and attacked the pride's shaman.

"Still think he's all high and mighty?" Sapphire asked, smugly. The lionesses waited for Torres to move away before running to Coyle to see if he was alright. They were fearful that the same thing would happen to them, that happened to their shaman. Coyle painfully lifted himself up from the ground, now with a huge, deep scar over his right eye. Torres' claws had drawn no blood.

"I'm alright…" Coyle struggled to say.

"He's crazy." Orion told Sapphire, in relation to what Torres has just done. She just nodded and agreed. She'd known that all along.

**xxx **

It was night. His pride still didn't know where he was, or what he was doing. They didn't want him to come back, anyway. They were fearful. After what he had done to Coyle, they didn't know what to expect of him.

Torres had in fact gone to the Dark Lands. Effortlessly, he threw the dead wildebeest over the edge, into the never-ending Abyss. Immediately, the fog that blanketed the chasm, to make it look as if there was ground where that emptiness was, stirred. At first, naturally, as the object thrown down would have disturbed it, but then, in a surreal way.

"Torres…" a godly, booming voice called from the Abyss.

"Yes, my lord." Torres replied with haste.

"You have done well." It told him, though, without any sign of emotion.

"Thank you, my lord." Torres silently awaited a reply for a few moments.

"These adolescents of your pride… Orion, Coyle and Sapphire…" the voice trailed off. After a sort pause, it continued, "I see that they will cause you much trouble in later years."

"What do you advise I do, my lord?"

"Exile them. Frame them for the murder of the youngling, Kiko. This cub will be a problem as well, when he reaches maturity."

"It will be done, my lord." Torres replied, showing a wicked grin.


	2. Judgment

Shadowland

Chapter 2

Judgment

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way, except for being a fan of his work. Shadowland, Chapter 2: Judgment is property of Troy Wong, a.k.a. Chookooblash, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.

I hope you enjoy reading my stories. Long live the king!

"**Ya think ya know a guy…" **

–Timon, hero of the meerkat tribes, during the reign of King Simba.

Kiko woke to the sound of footsteps outside the den. The nightmares that he 'didn't have' were disturbing his sleep, and there was no chance of him returning to rest anytime soon, so he headed outside to see who it was. Maybe it was Torres. That would be good. In his mind, Kiko had always shared a special bond with the pride's leader. If it was Torres, then he'd be the first to know where he disappeared off to after the hunt, and why. He wouldn't just go off and do something crazy like that without a reason, would he?

Would he, really?

"Kiko…" a voice called from outside. Kiko's face filled with joy as he realised that it was Torres. He was finally back.

"Torres?" he asked, whispering under his breath, just to make sure that he was right.

"Yes, it's me." Torres whispered back. "I've got something to tell you… In private. Come out here."

The naïve cub ran outside on the tips of his toes, turning around the corner, seeing Torres, standing there. He looked somewhat different. Kiko couldn't put his finger on it, but something about Torres had changed.

"Come with me, Kiko." Torres told him, keeping his voice down, not wanting to wake up the other lions and lionesses. Kiko just nodded, and was lead away by someone who he thought he knew.

**xxx **

Meanwhile, in the cave by The Small Oasis, Sapphire slept uneasily, just like Kiko, haunted by images of things past. In her mind, the impossible was possible. When she told others about what she had dreamt about, they just didn't understand. She was different. She always had been.

"Sapphire!" her long dead father called to her in her deep sleep.

"Father!" she yelled back. The gales of wind that swept in with the approaching storm beat upon her face, making it hard to see, hear, and even breathe.

Water swept into to gorge, appearing out of nowhere. Sapphire's father hung on for his life, to the smooth, stone walls that made the chasm. This wall didn't have any dents or points that he could've gripped on to, and he was loosing traction fast. "Help me!" he pleaded to her. She would have, but she could not, however hard she tried. Invisible, grasping hands held her back, and however hard she screamed, however hard she pushed against that barrier, however hard she tried to fight them off, she could not break loose.

One fork of lightning spelled doom for her father. As it appeared, exploding from the vast, thick storm clouds that blocked out the moon, the sky instantaneously turned white. The flash blinded her for a moment, and when she could see again, everything was back to normal. The storm had stopped, she was no longer held back, she could see the moon again, and the water flooding the gorge had disappeared. She ran up to the wall where her father had been fighting for his life, and when she arrived, she saw that he had gone as well.

Then, she felt something tap her shoulder. She turned around, and there stood a dark figure, like a shadow cast on a wall. It was a male lion, with eyes that glowed red like the seasonal fires, only a million times brighter, and claws and teeth that were sharper than anything she'd ever seen. Before she could react, and without a word, it flung its claw at her, pushing her over the edge, falling, falling, falling down below, into the endless darkness.

Sapphire woke up in a cold sweat, panting, as we all do when waking up in the middle of the night from a disturbing dream. She uttered something under her breath before laying her head back down on the ground to rest again, though something else occurred to keep her from her rest. The sound of footsteps, outside her little den. It was Kiko and Torres. She watched on in silence as the walked past, keeping herself in the shadows.

"Can Sapphire come along, Torres? Please?" Kiko asked anxiously.   
"No." Torres replied sternly, almost angered. He tried to sound calmer before he said anything else. "I must tell you what I have to tell you in private. This is for your ears only."

"But… She's just over there, in that cave!"

"No, Kiko…" she whispered under her breath, as if he could hear her.

Torres looked over to the cave's entrance with a piercing stare. His gaze was fixed there for so long that Sapphire didn't know if he could see her, or was just trying to make her panic. She didn't want to move.

"We shall leave her to her sleep." he eventually told Kiko, looking back at the cub.

Sapphire sighed a sigh of relief, though, still remembering to keep quiet. It was unusual that Torres would go straight to Kiko upon his return. What could he possibly need to tell that cub, that no one else could know? She decided to follow them. She felt more comfortable in the dark, and so would have the advantage. She couldn't sleep, anyway. After that dream, she wasn't sure that anyone could, but the effect of that vision would soon ware off.

And so she followed them to the Dark Lands, and to the Abyss, where Torres finally stopped, and said "We are here.", and with a swift slash, Kiko was gone. There was no time to scream.

"Kiko! No!" she yelled without thinking, giving away her position in a second. Torres turned to look at her, with a startled look on his face. He was sure that no one had been following him. He was obviously wrong.

Sapphire leaped out of her hiding place behind the rocks immediately. There was no going back now. "Kiko! What did you do to him?"

"He's gone now, Sapphire." He said with a grin, as, behind him, the fog stirred and rose up from the abyss, sweeping Kiko's lifeless body up into to air, then letting him go when he was just above the abyss. "What are you doing here? Isn't it past your bed time?" Torres continued, menacingly, forcing her backwards. "Your mother wouldn't be very pleased about this if she were still around…"

Sapphire was losing ground quickly. Before she knew it, be back was to the wall, and Torres was so close that she could feel his breath. "You killed her!" she yelled, ramming into him, clawing at his face. He fell to the ground heavily, but got up just moments after, seemingly uninjured.

"I wasn't the one who killed her Sapphire… Her foolish desires were what lead her to her downfall."

"She only wanted to keep me safe!"

"That was foolish indeed… But no worry." He grinned an evil grin. "You're joining her now." And with that, he charged back at Sapphire, knocking her to the ground with a well aimed swing of his paw at her body.

Head spinning, she opened her eyes to see Torres looking over her, his thick, slimy strands of saliva dripping onto her chest. He lifted his arm to finish her off, but she wouldn't fall so easily. All that he struck was the ground; Sapphire had rolled aside just in time. As she fled, Torres followed her, but she was young, light and fast, and Torres was old, heavy and slow, and so he could not keep up as she disappeared into the darkness, back to the Den to seek the safety of her pride, in Amber Valley.

**xxx **

"Look at these scars…" he said, showing off his wounds to his pride, each and every one of them gathered at The Small Oasis. "I was attacked last night as I returned from my journey."

"Where were you?" A voice yelled out from the crowd. She asked the question that everyone wanted to know.

"I took that wildebeest from you because there were other people out there who needed it more than us… Others of our kind. Other lions." Gasps and mumbles erupted from the crowd. Torres' pride always thought that they were the only lions in Amber Valley. He continued, "They were starving when I met them… I had to help, and I am sorry for any distress it may have caused you."

The pride didn't seem to be buying it. "What about Sapphire?" Orion yelled out. "She says that you attacked her in the Dark Lands, and killed Kiko!" he continued, trying to restrain himself from charging through the mass of lionesses in front of him and attacking Torres outright. He trusted Sapphire's word, and anyway, no one trusted Torres anymore. He'd ruined his name; his reputation.

"That's where I was." Torres replied. Every word he spoke was a lie. "These other lions live in the Dark Lands, where they suffer twice as much as we do every day. It was night, and just when I was about to leave, I saw you!" Sounds of disbelief came from the crowd upon hearing this. "Orion, Sapphire and Coyle were at the Dark Lands last night, and they were there for one reason: To murder Kiko! This cruel act will not go unpunished."

Sapphire tried to hold Orion back, with no success as he ran through the crowd, rampaging directly towards Torres, knocking him off the stone he was standing on, onto the dusty earth. "No! Why would I kill my own brother, Torres? Why? You killed him! We all know that!" he yelled down onto him, extending his claws. "You deserve to die!" Orion roared, furious, raising his arm to strike. Torres had a look on his face that could only be described as fear for his life.

Before Orion could act, he was dragged down by Sapphire, and several other lionesses. Torres hastily got back on his feet, shaking the dust off his body, still recovering from the shock.

"Torres!" Coyle called out, steeping in front of the pride to face him. "I was nowhere near the Dark Lands last night. You know that. Neither was Orion. I was talking to him. He couldn't have-"

"You're a liar, Coyle! I put my trust in you, and now you speak against me?"

"You're the liar!" he yelled back, angered. "I was nowhere near the Dark Lands last night!" Coyle growled, threateningly.

"As I have already said," Torres began, ignoring Coyle, furthermore, Orion, and the several others holding him back. "this crime will not go unpunished. For the murder of the cub, Kiko, denying the truth to me, and attacking your elder, your punishment will be…"

That moment lasted forever for everyone in the pride. All of them had grown especially attached to these three lions. Orion's mother, Taruwa, watched on, speechless, from the crowd. Daeon, Coyle's best friend, held his breath for the verdict. Sapphire's hunting partner, whom she had grown much attached to, Gharah, struggled to hold back tears.

"Exile!" Torres bellowed from his rock. His voice echoed through the valley. Birds that nested on acacia trees, scattered here and there across the ground took flight. Vast herds of herbivorous animals abruptly lifted their heads from the ground, stopped feeding and ran. All heads in Amber Valley turned to look at The Small Oasis.

On that day, at that very moment, Sapphire's, Orion's, and Coyle's lives all changed, and so would everyone else's, not just in Amber Valley, but in lands, far, far away. All in due time. The moment Sapphire set foot out of her homelands, a quest began that was destined to bring the long lost Circle of Life back into power, or plunge it back into the darkness for all of eternity, never to be seen again.

"**And over the hills they will go, out of their home in the dark of night. Torres the betrayer will not have them stay any longer, and if he sees them in the Den when dawn breaks the next morning, he will kill them outright. Their paws will make contact with the black, ashy dust that will be the ground outside the Amber Valley, for the first time in their lives. Sapphire of the Night, who would have just been known as Sapphire, in those times, will be the first to step out, and at that moment, the Quest for the Circle will begin. Orion the Brave will follow after her, with Coyle; Second Shaman of Claw stepping out last. The Great Kings of the Past with look over them from now on, though you would not think it if you saw what they had to go through. These lions will do tremendous things for the good of the Circle. **

-1st part of the 283rd prophecy of the Great Shaman Metutu, during the reign of

King Mohatu; Greatest and Highest King That Ever Ruled.


	3. Those of the Savannah

Shadowland

Chapter 3

Those of the Savannah

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way, except for being a fan of his work. Shadowland, Chapter 3: 'Those of the Savannah' is property of Troy Wong, a.k.a. Chookooblash, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.

The extract from 'The Lioness Hunt' (opening poem) was taken from The Lion King on Broadway, by Lebo M.

I hope you enjoy reading my stories. Long live the king!

**We baba zingela siyo zingela baba **

Hunting, yes we are going hunting

**Zingela siyo, zingela baba **

Hunting, yes we are going hunting

**Hi baba qhubekeni siyo zingela**

Let us go and hunt

"Girl, I don't know what you're on about. Look over there! See? Seer Waturi doesn't even look worried. He always looks worried!" Vienna yelled at Kyomaraju, in a friendly manner, as the talkative, loud voiced wildebeest child's parents grazed, not too far away from the two. "You've gotta stop worrying yourself, Kyo. You're gonna be worse than those pesky hornbills if you don't watch yourself."

"Okay… It's just that-" Vienna stopped her from finishing her sentence to enforce her own advice.

"But-"

"A-tah!"

"Vien-"

"Nuh!"

"Hey-"

"No, no, no, no! There's nothing hunting us down. I'll even step outside the middle of the herd to prove my point..." Before 'Kyo', as she was known by her friends, could stop her, Vienna was half was through the crowd of fellow wildebeests that were blocking her path to the outside of that protective barrier, with the strongest of the herd outside to protect the rest while feeding, and the weaker inside to be protected.

Children were always placed in the middle of the crowd- no matter how tough they really were. This included Kyo and Vienna, two that were part of the closest circle of friends in that wildebeest herd. Kyo was a wildebeest that had had a particularly stressful life, despite the fact that she was only a few months old at this time. She had been found on the border of the Dark lands and Amber Valley, young, weak, and all alone. Nobody, to that day, knew what had happened to her parents, and neither did she. Even Seer Waturi was baffled when he tried to read her past. It was almost like her parents never existed.

"Hey! Vienna! Vienna!" Kyo called, as she, too, made her way through the crowd of grazing wildebeest to find her 'act-before-you-think type' friend.

"**At this point, one of the wildebeests in the herd ahead lifted its head up and looked directly towards Sapphire."**

Meanwhile, on the edge of the barrier opposite from where the two young girls were heading, the herd's seer stopped munching the grass that was just barely alive, and lifted his head from the ground that had been sucked of its life by the blazing sun. Waturi turned to the left. He couldn't see anything, but he definitely could sense another presence there in the grass. The rest of the herd, on the other hand, had no idea whatsoever of the possible danger that was lurking nearby, in the grass somewhere to the left of Waturi.

"**She didn't know if it could see her or not, but immediately, it let out a call, and the mass of horns and hoofs ran."**

Seer Waturi bellowed a warning signal, and immediately, the whole herd ceased grazing, lifted their heads and bolted away from that particular patch of grass that was now behind them, and misted by the dust their hooves had kicked into the air, all in a matter of one or two seconds. All these animals had to be fast, and more importantly, fast-witted, if they were to survive for any amount of time.

"**Sapphire knew that this was their only chance… Without a word, she bolted after them, the other lionesses following."**

Previously hidden in the tall, dry, yellow grass that grew in harmony with the short, green grass; good for eating, was a hunting party of lions. One, that seemed to be the leader, jumped out with amazing speed, giving chase as soon as her paws regained contact with the ground.

"**There were at least ten of these, either the old, or the sick."**

A large number of the wildebeest in the herd started to fall behind. A plague had recently swept through, not only this herd, but most of the other herds in Amber Valley. That included non-wildebeest animals, as well. Most others had managed to overcome the wave of sickness with ease, but this large family had yet to pull through. These wildebeest that were falling behind the rest; the stragglers, were those that had not fully recovered yet, and along with them, the aged.

Every wildebeest herd had a circle of Elders; in normal circumstances, around four to seven. These Elders would have had to have been around for quite some time to actually be considered an Elder, and as a result, they would have experienced many things, and so would have had valuable knowledge to pass on to their descendants, though this title wasn't something that older wildebeests would really strive for. It would just come naturally, you could say. Strangely enough, despite all their years, these Elders were exceptionally fast, and strong, sometimes even the strongest in their herd, though, Elder Loki of this herd; Yoru's herd, was in fact amongst those at the front line, or rather, the back line of the most vulnerable.

"**One lioness, Gharah, had ran ahead, and was already closing in on one of the old, weak ones. She leaped at it once, failing to grab onto something, and losing precious metres."**

Sakoa turned to his left, and to his horror, one lioness had nearly caught up to him. This one was not the leader, though, which was fortunate, as all species of hunting parties would normally have had their best hunters as their leaders. This lioness leaped at him, but he could still run faster than an average lion could travel through the air, and the only things that the predator's risk achieved were two lost metres.

"**Sapphire passed her, and caught up with the prey, attempting a new hunting technique." **

Every wildebeest that had met Sakoa throughout his life had grown to love him almost instantly, and so it would've been so many more times harder for his herd, who had spent so many years with him, to see him fall at the hands of lions who saw him as a mere meal, not being able to help, prevented from doing so by their one, overpowering animalistic instinct: to survive.

Seer Waturi's real abilities were triggered in times of stress; this was definitely one of them. Though he didn't turn around, what flashed before his eyes was the demise of one of the herd's greatest. The leader of the hunting party had caught up with the Elder, as just like time had done so long ago. In the blink of an eye, Sakoa had gone from running, to lying on the ground, knocked down by that leader lioness.

Sakoa heard the sound of his own rubs crack on impact, a horrible, crunching sound. The one that had knocked him down spared no time. She went for his throat, claws extended, jaws open wide, and growling. Just like that, Sakoa was gone, and his herd had virtually disappeared, in their place floated a cloud of dust.

"**Before the doomed wildebeest could turn to see who was running beside it, she had batted it down to the ground with a swift, but strong movement of her right paw. Once it was on the ground, she wasted no time, pouncing on it and going for the throat. In moments, it was over."**

**xxx **

Deep in the tunnels belonging to the Mesa Meerkat family of the south, snoozed a little rodent. However, despite the fact that this was clearly a meerkat tunnel system, this little rodent was not a meerkat. He was a little gopher, who, with what some would call a lack of originality, went by the name of Gopher.

Meerca, an animal that actually belonged in these tunnels, approached the sleeping gopher, trying hard not to wake him up. Meerca was a small sized meerkat, with a brown nose, and paws of the same scorched colour.

"WAKE UP GOPHER WAKE UP!" someone screamed from behind her, in a loud, yet high tone of voice. It was Levi, the guy with an uncanny ability to appear behind people, and, furthermore, scare them to death. Meerca jumped, and Gopher woke up immediately, screaming at the sight of the two meerkats right in his face; giants, compared to his size.

"Levi, you idiot!" Meerca screamed back. "He was sleeping!"

"Hey, it's his fault if he falls asleep where I'm supposed to, and I just so happen to wake him up after a hard night of sleeping with Ruby, when my bed was occupied." Levi replied, smiling a childish smile.

"Yeah, you liked that, didn't you?"

That loud meerkat just nodded, still smiling his signature smile.

Gopher was still trying to catch his breath as he spoke this sentence, "Levi? Look, I checked with Chilli- this den was free."

Meerca 'oh-ed' silently, then upon realising what this meant, turned to stare back at Levi with that look that could've sunk the Titanic.

"What? What? Why are you looking at me?" he replied, slightly panicked, waving his arms around in the air.

"Your room is next door." The female meerkat told him, pausing for a moment after each word, to emphasize her point, angry in place for her gopher friend.

"Ohh…" Levi replied, with the sound of embarrassment in his voice, joined by a hint of fear towards the end of that single word. Immediately after this, he literally fled through the tunnels, finding the shortest route out of the caverns, to avoid Meerca's trademark fearsome wrath.

Meanwhile, outside, the other meerkats of the family that weren't still sleeping were lazing around in the shade. A handful of the children, however, were playing amongst themselves in the sun. It was amazing. They seemed to be resistant to heat while they were having fun. A few of the older, though not-quite-adults of the colony sat by the baobab tree; the largest tree in quite some distance, benefiting from its shade.

Julia laughed. "It's true! You two are so cute together!"

"Right, Julia. Right." Troy replied, sarcastically. His eyes were half closed, as they always were, when he was bored. That meant that his eyes were half closed all the time.

"But it is true!" she continued, against his will. "You and Stella should get together!"

"I hate the name 'Stella'. Not only that, but she annoys me. Like you, when you talk about myself and her in the same sentence, or string of sentences."

"Whatever." Joolz replied, frustrated, as she got up and began to head towards the main entrance to the tunnel.

As she neared, Levi ran out, screaming, soon followed by Meerca. "AH! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" he yelled, frantically. Levi had no chance of escape, and in seconds, he was on the ground, being given a thorough bashing by his female 'friend'. "MERCY! MEERCA! ARGH! MERCY!"

"Should we help them?" Paul asked Troy, somewhat worried for the wellbeing of the guy who was smashed to pieces before him. He had been a rogue until Chilli, the primary female of the family that Paul had asked to join, had displayed some rare behaviour, allowing him to do so.

"They're always like that. Don't worry about them." Troy told him, plainly, as if the act of violence happening in front of him happened every day. Well, in fact, it did happen every day, sometimes more often. The others had also learned to ignore the two's behaviour. In time, Levi's bruises would heal, and Meerca's head would cool down. "Just sit back, and enjoy the show." He continued, finding a comfortable position in which to lie down, and putting his hands behind his head, resting on them. Everyone else watched on with him, except for Jasmine and Robert, who were running into problems of their own, on the other side of the tree trunk.

"Look, Jasmine… Your mother's been giving me trouble over the past few weeks… She doesn't want me to be around you any more."

"What? No. No… I should've known she would do this! She never wants me to be happy, and she's using her high position and power to do it!" Jasmine shouted angrily, getting ready to storm away.

"Calm down, Jasmine-" Robert was interrupted by his quick-tempered female friend, whom, he was intimate with.

"No! I won't calm down! I'm going to go up to her right now, and tell her that she can't interfere with our lives anymore!"

"Jasmine!" he yelled, in that particular tone of voice that could stop a herd of wildebeest on a stampede. That stopped her rambling on right away. "That's not all…"

"What?"

"Chilli said she's going to force me out of this colony as soon as she can. She doesn't want anyone grooming me, or helping me find food. She doesn't even want me talking to you people…"

"Robbie, I don't care what she thinks or what she says… We'll stay here as long as we can, then when she starts getting violent, we'll run away together! It'll be perfect!"

"Jasmine, listen to me on this one. I can't escape this, but I can stop you from being dragged down with me. Stay away from me from now on, okay?" Robert looked around cautiously. He thought that he had heard someone coming. "I should go now."

"Wait!" Jasmine pleaded. Robert had already started to walk away. "… So, this means we won't see each other again?" she finally managed to say, after a long pause, close to tears.

Robert turned around to face Jasmine, looking her in the eye, as echoes from the ongoing battle shot through the air, coming from the other side of the tree, or rather, slaughtering of Levi. "Go for in between his legs!" someone could be heard yelling. There were no screams, but shortly afterwards, cheers and applause erupted from the audience. Meerca must've fulfilled the request, and very well, too.

"We will, Jasmine… We will." And with that, Robert left, down into the tunnels, just like Julia had done earlier.

**xxx **

Maloumba looked over the land with his daughter, Charlotte, from their favourite spot, atop the highest cliff in the land; Ivory Cliff, by the giant boulder. That boulder's surface was incredibly smooth, and glossy, just like Maloumba's tusks. Charlotte was only five years old, and so her tusks were yet to grow.

"It's beautiful…" Charlotte said, under her breath, scanning the landscape for anything unusual. She came to this place every day with her father, and if anything so much as moved a metre, she would notice. Out there, in the distance, were seven acacia trees; one sat on the horizon. Very near to the cliff face was a huge baobab tree, the largest tree in quite some distance, which marked the place where she had her first encounter with meerkats.

"Just as always…" replied Maloumba, smiling a smile of content; the content that came from raising such a successful family. When the plague that wiped out so many wildebeest came months ago, no elephant in his tribe showed signs of sickness.

Before he could say anything else, his messenger hornbill, Lola, flew frantically to his shoulder, yelling words that were beyond understanding.

"Lola! Lola, calm down. What is it? What's wrong?" Maloumba asked her, using a slightly worried tone of voice. Lola, unlike most of her kind, didn't overreact over little things, such as too many dung beetles appearing, or the temperature dropping a few degrees. He knew there was definitely something wrong.

"W-Wild dogs! Huge hunting party! A-At the ridge! The ridge!" was all she could say.

Maloumba just looked at her for a moment, and then told Charlotte to get behind him as he headed to the site of the drama with Lola still oh his shoulder.

**xxx**

"Hiero! We gotta get out of here!" someone yelled to Hiero, from behind. "We're never gonna take down one of these elephants!"

"Stand your ground!" he barked; the hunting party's leader. There were at least twelve others of his kind coming over the ridge that covered the only safe entrance to the cliff. They were being pushed back by the circle of elephants surrounding the young that were still vulnerable to predators, though one child had been left out.

Darroul was just able to fend for himself against two of the wild dogs behind a tree, but his luck soon turned. Next to this tree was a small swamp. The soil surrounding this swamp was loose and crumbled easily, allowing its water to escape, making puddles or sludge in the surrounding area. As Darroul stepped back to avoid the jaws of one dog, his back left foot got stuck in a puddle of mud that sucked him in, not allowing him to escape. The two dogs neared.

"These elephants are too much for us! You're gonna kill us all if you keep us here!" screamed Domin, the pack's alpha female from the top of a boulder, to Hiero.

"I said stand your ground until I tell you to do otherwise!" he shouted back to her. "I'll make sure no one gets hurt!" Hiero continued, almost trying to convince himself. "Forward! As a unit!" he proceeded to say. The whole pack began to close in on the elephants, growling, barking and snapping their jaws, coming over the ridge, though that barrier of muscle and tusks didn't look like they were going to budge.

Seconds later, a booming trumpeting sound exploded out from behind the circle of elephants as Maloumba burst through the wall, trumpeting again, throwing the front part of his body into the air in a horse-like manner. The earth shook when his feet impacted the ground. The elephants of his tribe trumpeted, cheering him on, supporting him, and scaring the dogs to death.

The sight of a male elephant, four metres high at the shoulder with tusks the size of tree trunks that shone like the sun was just too much for Hiero, let alone his pack. "Fall back!" he growled at them, looking back. They didn't seem to be able to hear him over the barrage of elephant roars, whose source was so close to their ears. "Fall back!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, turning around and running, as Maloumba's feet smashed into the land again. His whole pack heard him this time, and followed him in fleeing.

Maloumba only then spotted Darroul, on the ground and bleeding still stuck in the puddle of mud that he had fallen into. He rushed to the young calf's side, making the two wild dogs that had injured him flee faster.

"Darroul! Darroul, speak to me. Tell me you're alright…" No answer came. "Darroul?" Still, no words were spoken by the calf. Maloumba painfully accepted the truth, and stepped back in respect as the circle of elephants behind him broke and approached.

**xxx**

As the wild dogs fled back to wherever they had come from, Diego the leopard watched on. He was a solitary animal, who could take down an antelope by himself, and loved to laze amongst the branches of trees. The rays of sunlight landed and danced on his emerald green eyes as he looked up to see if he could get higher into the tree he was sitting on. He didn't want to get the attentions of the twelve odd dogs that were coming his way at that moment; no doubt he was strong, but he surely couldn't take on that many vicious carnivores at a time.

"Good one by the elephants…" he said to himself as he found a foothold and hoisted himself up the tree trunk. Soon enough, the dogs came running towards his tree, then by it, then away from it.

Diego hadn't spoken to anyone else for years. He'd basically lost the skills of social interaction, and now just avoided it altogether. His mother would always tell him that depending on others when you're an adult spelt weakness. Independence was strength, for all you rely on is yourself when you are independent. When dependent on others, you may be capable, but what of your other counterparts? Will they always be as capable as you? If they go down, you'll go with them.

Those pieces of advice, or rather, orders, got to Diego somewhat more than it did to his brother and sister. He only ever played with them several times; his fun laid in watching others, and observing their behaviour. What would they do if this happened, or, perhaps, that? How will they react to this? Diego was not about physical activity. He was about mental exercises.

Diego was wise. He knew not to bite off more than he could chew. He was observing very closely what happened at the ridge of Ivory Cliff. From the first hour of stalking to the death of Darroul, he knew that Hiero was in way over his head. Wild dogs couldn't handle elephants. Nobody could. Diego would only hunt wildebeest, antelope, zebra, and other medium sized hoofed animals, occasionally stealing from species that he considered lesser than him, like lions, cheetahs, vultures, crocodiles, and, of course, wild dogs. He was too smart for them to ever catch him, in his mind.

And so the sun had risen, and now it had set. Sapphire, Orion and Coyle had made it all the way into the Grey Mountains, where they had now found a cave that they could sleep in, though it would only fit two of the three of them inside. Orion volunteered to stay outside for the night; they needed someone to keep watch, anyway.

This would be the hardest night for Sapphire in her entire life. Not because of the trauma that she had just experienced or because of the unfamiliarity of the foreign place she was sleeping in, but because of the nightmares that would disturb her sleep. She would later find out that these were more than mere bad dreams, but visions of the past, present, and future, which would build her up, preparing her for things to come, or destroy her on the spot.


	4. Endless Night

Shadowland

Chapter 4

Endless Night

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way, except for being a fan of his work. Shadowland, Chapter 4: 'Endless Night' is property of Troy Wong, a.k.a. Chookooblash, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.

'Endless Night' (opening and closing poems) was taken from The Lion King on Broadway.

I hope you enjoy reading my stories. Long live the king!

**"Where had the starlight gone? **

**Dark is the day… **

**How can I find my way home?" **

"Who are you?" she shouted at the thing that stood in front of her. Her voice echoed in a surreal way as it shot like a bullet through the air, out into the distance. The sky flashed white again, like the brightest bolt of lightning you've ever seen, though no sound came. That shadowy being in front of Sapphire grinned an evil grin. Its teeth were so white that she could hardly open her eyes while looking at them. She had trouble even facing them.

"The question is not who I am, dear Sapphire…" it replied after what seemed like an eternity. "… The question is when I'll strike, and what I'll do…" the shadowy figure laughed as the storm angered again, rain pouring down, thunder and lightning booming, and gales sweeping in from all directions, or did the storm anger as the thing laughed?

For some strange reason, Sapphire was momentarily blinded. Not by a bolt of lightning, but instantly, seemingly caused by nothing. During those few long seconds was she most terrified, for what she heard was beyond explanation. What she heard was terror at its purest, and that cannot be described using words.

When she regained her vision, she found that the thing once standing in front of her was gone. "Where are you?" she called out, her tone of voice easily revealing her state of mind: petrified.

"I'm right beside you." That creature's voice boomed back at her. Before she could turn to her side to see it glaring down at her, the shadow struck her down, then grabbed her, and threw her over the cliff, into the gorge, down below, falling, falling, falling down into the eternal darkness.

Sapphire woke up panting, and in a cold sweat. She looked around to make sure everything was in the right place, still in after-nightmare shock. She was in the small cave in the middle of the Grey Mountains, no doubt. Orion was outside, having fallen asleep minutes earlier, however, he wouldn't be asleep for much longer, and Coyle was also sleeping, to her right. Her friend outside had been awakened by her own loud panting, despite the fact that he was several metres away from her. She glanced at Coyle another time and just sat there, trying to catch her breath and to calm down when Orion got up and looked at her.

"Sapphire? Are you alright?" he asked her, quietly, careful not to wake the only other person there sleeping, who, had apparently had a big day. Although Sapphire was the first to step out of Amber Valley, from then on, Coyle would be leading the group, scouting ahead to ensure a safe path, looking for food, albeit, with no success, and even finding the cave that they were seeking refuge in that night.

"H-Huh?" Sapphire asked, yawning at the same time, somewhat lightheaded.

"I asked if you were alright."

"Um… Yeah, I'm fine. Just can't sleep." She replied, after a short pause. Both lions looked at each other for a second.

"Come over here, Sapphire. Come on." he said to her, almost whispering. Sapphire got up slowly, again, keeping in mind that Coyle was asleep, and tiptoed outside, sitting down next to Orion, and looking up at the moon. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" he asked as she sat, nearly rhetorically.

"Yeah…" she sighed, looking down. Orion knew her. He knew something was wrong.

"Had that dream again, huh?" he asked, without delay.

Sapphire looked up at him. "How did you know?" Her eyes glistened in the moonlight as she looked up at him.

Orion just stared at her for a few seconds, lost for words. "Your eyes…" was all that he could string together for the moment.

"My eyes?" she asked him, curiously, at the same time, rubbing herself up against his shoulder.

"They look beautiful in the moonlight. You know that, don't you?"

"Well, I've never really seen my own eyes at night." She chuckled. Orion did the same, just to make her feel comfortable.

After a few very long, pleasant minutes Sapphire finally said, "Do you miss home, as much as I do, Orion?" he pulled his gaze away from the night sky to look at something that he found much more beautiful.

"I know for sure that we all miss home." He told her, softly. Sapphire was going to cry due to homesickness, but decided to hold back her tears. 'Not in front of Orion' she thought to herself as her eyes filled with water, and a small tear rolled down her cheek. The two of them just looked up, and watched the moon go by. As the night drew on, they fell asleep, next to each other.

**xxx**

"His life was taken away from him at such an early age… And so he was never really given a chance to live- to run free on the savannah, to have the satisfaction of achieving something great… To raise a herd of his own or to experience love." Spoke the old elephant, by Darroul's body, by the tree next to which he was killed by wild dogs.

Maloumba's sleek, slender, yet strong tusks shone like silver in the moonlight as he stepped away from the calf's body, and bowed. His entire herd, behind him bowed as well, in respect. His daughter, Charlotte cried as she did so. Darroul had been one of her best friends. "We will remember you…" he uttered under his breath, proceeding to lead his tribe away, over the ridge, to the safety of the foot of Ivory Cliff.

Everywhere in Amber Valley and beyond, tears were being wept. Taruwa was hit so hard by the loss of her sons, Kiko and Orion that she cried herself to sleep every night. Tarot's herd mourned the loss of their beloved Elder, Sakoa, and Jasmine, the meerkat of the Mesa family couldn't work out why her mother would make her life so hard; to exile her sweetheart, Robert.

**xxx**

Julia had been bothered by the sound of sobbing coming from outside all night, yet she hadn't bothered to go out there and find out who it was, and if they needed help. Why? She didn't know. At least, she didn't want to know. The reason? She thought that maybe if she didn't go outside, that person by the entrance of the tunnel wouldn't notice her, there to help, and she could go back to sleep. Of course that person wouldn't notice her. That sound had been around for hours.

"Oh, please be quiet" whispered Julia to no one, as she tossed and turned another time in her den. The sobbing wouldn't stop. She knew it wouldn't, unless she did something. "Meh…" she moaned, getting up. "I'm not going to be sleeping for awhile, anyway."

Waiting for her by the entrance outside was Jasmine. She'd nearly cried her own little puddle around her by that time.

"Jasmine?" asked Julia as she turned to her right, finding that sad, little thing sitting on a rock by herself, out in the cold. Jasmine just continued to cry her eyes out. "What are you doing out here?" Julia continued, drawing closer to her friend. "It's freezing…"

"I-It's Robbie!" screamed Jasmine, tears still flowing down her face like rivers in the rainy season, as she blew her nose on Julia's chest.

Joolz mumbled something along the lines of 'ew…' before asking, "What did Robert do? Did he hurt you?" she paused, and then gasped. "Did he break up with you?"

Jasmine screamed something along the lines of 'No! He'd never do that!' in that way that people do, when crying uncontrollably which makes them sound like a blob of goop that's just learnt to speak English- and we all know how bad blobs of goop are at speaking English.

"Sorry, it's just that you-"

The sobbing meerkat had finally managed to stop doing what she'd been doing for hours, for a brief moment, at least. "No… Chilli said that he didn't want him around me, and she's going to…"

"Going to what? To what?"

"To exile him!" she screamed in the blob-of-goop-voice. Then returned the waterworks.

"Oh, Jasmine…" Julia whispered to her, in a comforting voice, going in for a hug. Jasmine just rested her head on her friend's shoulder for awhile. "I'm sorry, Jasmine… You know mothers. One minute they're all lullabies and fairy tales, then the next they're… Well, you'd know."

She sniffed. "It just came so suddenly… I don't know why she's doing this! I can't ever be happy when she's around!" Jasmine pulled away to go and sit back on her rock. Julia just stood where she was, in front of the tunnel entrance for a moment.

"Hey! I know what we can do!" she suggested, in an excited tone of voice.

"What?"

"Come with me…"

**xxx**

"Aw, but I'm sleeping!" groaned Troy, his face buried in the ground. Julia had dragged Jasmine all the way to Troy's room, and woken him up.

"Come, on, you slack one! She needs you to make her laugh!"

"Meh… Can't you just get Rob? He's the one that she's-" upon hearing that name, Jasmine erupted into a sobbing wreck once more.

"Don't mention that name, stupid!" Julia shouted at Troy, who was still half asleep, and on the ground. She then turned to Jasmine. "It's okay Jasmine- just don't listen him."

"Couldn't you just get Levi? Or Joshie? Or Tino, or Adam, or…"

"They're not funny! They're all idiots!"

"Huh?" Troy finally pulled his face out of the ground. "You want me to be funny?"

"Well, yeah, duh."

"Joolz, Joolz, Joolz… When will you learn?"

"Learn what?"

"I'M NOT FUNNY!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Shut up! You're gonna wake everyone!"

"Um... Julia." voiced Jasmine, nudging Julia's shoulder.

"Yes, Jasmine?" she replied.

"You know, Troy's sort of right… He's not funny… At all."

"Oh, that's nice." Troy commented. Joolz just pouted at him. "What? What do you want, Julia? What do you want? When ever will it stop? Jasmine already told you- I'm not funny!"

"You are when I say you are!" she yelled back.

"You know, you're starting to sound a lot like Stella.

Joolz laughed hard. "Ha! You've been spending time with her, haven't you? Haven't you?"

"Off-topic, Joolz. Way off topic." He gave her that plain look, as Jasmine just stood by and watched.

"You're the one that brought it up!"

"At least I'm not the one that's obsessed with other people's lives!"

"You're the one that needs to get a life!"

"Obsessed!"

"Slack one!"

"Hey! Shut up down there, we're trying to sleep!" yelled a voice from one of the higher dens that sounded like Joshie. All three of the meerkats in Troy's room looked up for a second.

"Look…" Julia spat, right in his face, making sure that even Jasmine couldn't hear her. "If you don't do this for Jasmine, I will spread rumors that you've been going out with Stella."

"They'll never believe you." Troy whispered angrily, in a worried tone of voice.

"I know some people that could change that."

"You wouldn't…" he said disbelievingly.

"Oh, you have no idea what I'll do." She replied sternly, eyes open wide and menacing, grabbing him by the neck.

Jasmine was instantly alarmed by Julia's random mood swing. "Hey, Julia! No need to-" she was cut off.

"You stay out of this, Jasmine!" Joolz told her, nearly shouting again.

"You're a cruel woman." Wheezed the one in the woman's clutches, unable to breathe.

"I know." She finally let go of his neck. "Now, let's go!"

**xxx**

All of Tarot's tribe had been asleep for hours, apart from two of them. Kyomaraju's thoughts were still focused on the lion's wildebeest hunt that took place a day ago. Why didn't Seer Waturi see it coming? Why did she have that uneasy feeling? Why were there so many stragglers this time around? Why, oh why, did Elder Sakoa have to fall at the hands of lions?

Waturi was the other one awake. He would spend most of the night pondering o thoughts, mediating, and looking into the future. Strangely enough, Kyo had never seen him sleeping, or even resting. Actually, no one had even seen him sleeping. It was almost like he didn't have to.

"Seer Waturi?" called a child's voice; it's source concealed by the tall blades of yellow grass. That yellow blanket had spread over the land like a swarm of insects. It had taken most of the water that the luscious, green grass needed to live, yet it was just barely alive.

"Kyomaraju. It is a little late for a child as young as you to be awake… Come forth." Waturi said, softly. It was like he knew exactly where she was. In fact, he did. Kyo parted the grass in front of her as she walked towards the seer, finally arriving in front of him. "I can see that you have something to tell me…"

"Yes, Seer Waturi." She confirmed, shy. Kyo was never one for getting out there and meeting new people- that, she left to Vienna.

"And what would that be?"

"It's about the lions… Their hunt." Kyo paused.

"Continue, Kyomaraju. I won't bite." He chuckled briefly.

Hesitantly she said, "I was watching you, with my friend. It looked like you didn't sense anything until the last minute, when they were just several metres away from us…"

Waturi looked down for a moment. Was that caused by shame? Kyo wasn't sure. Did he just see something, in his own special way? She couldn't tell.

"Yes, young one. You are very observant, and I must admit that I did not sense anything, at all until it was too late. Elder Sakoa may still be alive, if I had seen it-"

"No, Seer Waturi. That is not my point, and I certainly do not think it was your fault."

"Oh, yes?" he asked, curiously.

"I had an uneasy feeling while during those last few moments before they gave chase- I knew what was going to happen…"

"What?" he exclaimed, almost amazed. "Are you absolutely sure, Kyomaraju?"

"Yes, Seer Waturi. I'm very sure."

Waturi paused for a moment to absorb everything. "Do you know what this means?" Kyo gave him that look that, plainly, meant 'No. What?' "You possess the ability, the potential, and the destiny to become the next seer!"

"Really?"

"Yes! We must go- the Elders must be made aware of this news!" he shouted with glee as a nearby acacia tree's leaves rustled. Waturi turned towards it immediately. "Get behind me." He said slowly and softly, pausing after each word to emphasize how serious he was. Kyo was not going to doubt him on this one- she quickly scrambled behind him.

And then, a patch of grass to their right moved. Whatever it was hiding in that patch of grass, it wouldn't be for much longer- it was moving closer. Then they heard something move to their left, then the tree again and then right in front of them. It was moving incredibly fast- almost fast enough to be mistaken for four separate beings.

****

****_Was it there?_

"Seer Waturi?" Kyo asked, whispering, her voice shaking. "Wha-What is it?" The grass rustled again, but this time, it wasn't in front of them- it was behind them. Waturi looked behind him in horror. Kyo couldn't even gasp- she was far too frightened.

****

**_ Was it over there?_**

****

****"Kyomaraju, I do not know…" he told her, his own voice revealing his fear. Then it became apparent. This thing in the grass was circling them. Yes, of course it was a predator. Waturi already knew that, and yes, of course it wanted a meal, but this predator did something that most others didn't- it was tormenting them, messing with their minds, and taking advantage of their fears.

** _Maybe it's over there!_ **

"Kyomaraju…" he whispered.

"Yes?" she asked, now more fearful than she ever was.

"When I tell you to run… Run for your life, and never come back."

"Seer Waturi- No… I cannot do that!"

"Young one, you must! Listen to me, you may be the only one able to successfully replace me when I'm gone, and it seems at least one of us isn't going to be around for much longer…"The circle began to tighten.

****

**_ Where is it?_**

"Seer Waturi, no, you must not say that!"

"It is the truth!" the predator was closing in on them. Closing in, closing, closing, crushing them, destroying their space- they could not move.

****

**_ Where is it? _**

Right in front of them. Out leapt a huge leopard, roaring, claws extended, jaws open, ears folded back. For those two wildebeests, that single second that the leopard remained airborne seemed to go on forever. Time stretched like rubber, until it could not stretch any longer.

"Run! Kyo, run for your life!"

Kyo could not argue with that logic. She turned and ran. She ran as fast as she had ever ran. She ran faster than she ever imagined she could, screaming, screaming in fear; shear terror. Screaming, running, screaming, running for dear life. Running like there would be no tomorrow.

There would be none for Seer Waturi.

**xxx**

Back in the Den of Torres' pride, Taruwa woke up. It was still about 3 o' clock in the morning, but she couldn't sleep anyway. Then, she thought to herself, 'Maybe it was all a dream…' She wished for that ever so desperately, even going as far as to wake Gharah up and ask her what had happened in the last few days. Taruwa was really very desperate at this point.

"Huh…?" Gharah had said, light-headedly.

"Has anything significant happened lately?" the mother of a dead cub, and an exiled adolescent asked hopefully.

"Taruwa?" Gharah asked, getting up. "Don't you remember?" and so, Taruwa's heart sank again.

"What?" she asked, anyway.

"I'm sorry Taruwa, but… Orion was exiled, and Kiko's gone now." She told her softly. Taruwa uttered an 'oh', and went back to sleep. She still didn't want to believe it. What the last few days held were probably hardest on her.

**xxx**

Meanwhile, back at the foot of Ivory Cliff sat Jasmine and Julia, while Troy tried his best to make someone laugh. He hadn't managed to do so yet, and he'd been going for a few minutes now.

"… You think we'd be the ones being hunted down if we had opposable thumbs? No! We'd be the ones hunting down those lions, and those leopards, and those cheetahs, and those wild dogs, and those-"

"We get the point, Troy." said Julia, yawning.

"Look, do you want to ruin it for Jasmine?"

"What's to ruin?" This was proof- one simple comment from Julia could suck all the wind out of your sails.

"Hey, you're the one that came up with this idea! I'm supposed to be sleeping right now!" he barked back at her.

"So sleep is more important to you than Jasmine's happiness?" she shouted.

"Jasmine wants to sleep as well, but you've dragged her out her to listen to my pointless rambling! Even she doesn't think I'm funny!"

"Shut up, you selfish bi-" Maybe it came from sympathy, maybe it came from boredom, or maybe it came, simply from fatigue, but Jasmine chuckled lightly before Julia could finish her somewhat unsuitable sentence. "This is not the time, Jas-" she began.

"Joolz, wait! Did you just hear that?"

"What?"

"It was Jasmine!"

"What about Jasmine?"

"She just laughed! She just laughed!" Troy exclaimed with an unbelievably joyous tone of voice.

"She just laughed?" Joolz asked him, just as excited.

"She just laughed!" He yelled back, rejoicing.

"She just laughed!"

"Yeah!" They both screamed, at the same time. "Hi-five!" they yelled again, simultaneously, jumping up into the air and doing so. Jasmine just sat there, threw her head back, and giggled. Although it may not have solved the problem, Julia and Troy's constant arguing had brought Jasmine that little piece of happiness she needed for the moment. They laughed, and yelled ecstatic yells, and danced together for hours, until the sun came up, over the horizon, and began the new day.

Then they all fell down onto the ground and started snoring. Loudly.

**"I know**

**Yes, I know**

**The sun will rise**

**Yes, I know**

**I know**

**The clouds must clear**

**I know that the night must end**

**I know that the sun will rise**

**And I'll hear your voice deep inside**

**I know that the night must end**

**And that the clouds must clear**

**The sun**

**The sun will rise**

**The sun**

**The sun will rise…"**


	5. Dawn, Day, Dusk

Shadowland

Chapter 5

Dawn. Day. Dusk.

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way, except for being a fan of his work. Shadowland, Chapter 5: 'Dawn. Day. Dusk.' is property of Troy Wong, a.k.a. Chookooblash, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.

I hope you enjoy reading my stories. Long live the king!

**"So whenever you feel alone, just remember **

**that those kings will always be there to guide you ...**

**And so will I."**

-King Mufasa the Great, 3rd King of the Pridelands, father to King Simba. 

_To the near future…_

"No! Orion!" she roared, at the top of her lungs, as the only family she'd ever known was buried in a flood of dust and boulders right in front of her eyes. Coyle bolted forward to catch one of the falling rocks on his back, but that was far from enough, which he soon realised. If the both of them stayed in the collapsing cave any longer, their fate would be the same to that of Orion's. Sapphire didn't want to leave, and almost had to be dragged out by her remaining companion. Both of them emerged out of the darkness just in time as that tunnel crumbled, falling down in a storm of dust and terrible crunching noises.

'_How did this all happen?'_ She later thought to herself. _'It was so fast… Is he really gone? ... He can't be gone! I still need him! I'll always need him…'_ How it really did occur would be a mystery to them until the very end of their journey- a pure coincidence; a one in a million chance. But, the outrageous odds of what had just happened, actually happening wouldn't change anything. It had already happened, and there was nothing they could do about that, except look back on the events that lead to it, and say to themselves, 'If only I had done that…' or, 'If we had taken that path…', helplessly.

**xxx**

**3:00am**

**The middle regions of the ****Grey****Mountains**

**2 days and 3 nights before the cave-in. **

**Approximately 24 hours after the death of Seer Waturi, of Tarot's herd. **

Coyle and Sapphire sat next to each other, leaning onto a rock wall behind them as they looked out, scanning the rocky peaks for no apparent reason. They'd been sitting there for about an hour now because neither of them could seem to get any sleep. They could've woken Orion up and got moving, but just because they were early risers was no reason why he had to be as well.

Before long, conversation started."So…" Coyle began.

Sapphire turned towards him. "Yes?" she asked, plainly.

"Have you and Orion gotten together yet…? Any action while I was asleep?" Coyle turned towards Sapphire.

She sighed deeply, incredibly sick of Coyle's random bouts of childishness."Torres had to exile you with us, didn't he?"

"Is that a no?"

"Yes!" she yelled angrily.

"So you have gotten together?"

"You are such… An idiot, Coyle." she growled at him, frustrated.

"Whatever." With that, they both turned back to the wide open space in front of them. Socially, they were a little less well off then they were previously. A few more minutes passed, and surely enough, another conversation appeared out of nowhere.

"Do you miss home?" asked Coyle.

"Of course I miss home." Sapphire replied, keeping her blank stare on the landscape. "Do… You miss home?" she asked in return.

"There's no place like home…" he replied. Another minute ticked away.

"Do you miss your friends and family?" asked Sapphire.

"Yes, yes I do. Do you?"

Sapphire thought for awhile. Did she miss Gharah? Did she even consider Gharah as her friend? "No." she finally said, straight to the point.

"What about Gharah?"

"I can go without Gharah, can't I?" she asked, rhetorically.

"Well, what about Orion? What if Gharah was exiled with us and Orion was left behind? You'd miss him, wouldn't you?" He turned to Sapphire.

Sapphire looked him in the eye. "Yes. I would."

"So why don't you miss Gharah?"

"Because I don't need her."

"And you need Orion?"

"… Yes, Coyle. I do need Orion."

**xxx**

_Back to the present day…_

It was noon, though the sun had begun to blaze down on Amber Valley at least an hour before this. The Small Oasis was absolutely crowded; animals of all sorts gathered around. Some simply congregated to talk, but most were there for the water. None of them cared whether they were predator or prey for once; the heat was unbelievably intense.

None of them cared whose territory they were in, either- if you turned to your right; you may have seen the giraffes of Lairae's herd, but if you turned to your left, you may have seen the meerkats of the Kuwait family.

There were antelopes from the northwest, wildebeests from the northeast, leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs, and more. Although the dogs lived seemingly so conveniently close to Utopia Lake, the only other water source in the land,

masses of hippos and crocodiles gathered there almost all the time and they weren't the type that liked to take chances.

Every lion of Torres' pride had come as well, except for Torres, who had mysteriously disappeared off to the east again, which was, coincidentally, where the Dark Lands existed. Everyone was far past doubting that he was a good leader. Now they knew that he was a bad one, but still wondered what caused his sudden personality and behaviour changes.

Birds of all kinds and colours had swarmed in like a multi-coloured swarm of locusts, and now rested in or near trees surrounding the waterhole, including Lola, who had been relieved of her duties for that day. Maloumba and his herd were somewhere else, though; probably around Ivory Cliff, where they always were. Since the meerkats were gone for the time being, they were free to take advantage of the shade that their baobab tree gave without scaring anyone.

Well, not all of them. There was a handful that decided not to tag along. They'd rather laze around in the shade, slowly dehydrating, and having a hellishly large amount of trouble going to sleep that night because of their own hacking and dry throats. Did it bother them at the time? No. They weren't necessarily the brightest bunch, either.

Among these were Jasmine, the daughter of Chilli, and Gopher, the gopher. These two rodents rested by the shade of their baobab tree, scribbling on the ground with their fingers as drawing utensils, and whistling made-up tunes as Maloumba's herd grazed and recreated nearby.

"So…" Began Gopher. Strangely enough, he spoke with a Mexican accent.

"Hm." Jasmine sighed, smiling at him, and then turned away as an elephant's roar exploded from the opposite side of the tree.

"How about that weather, eh?" he asked, trying to make conversation. He didn't get a reply that time. "I mean, one minute it's hot, then, the next minute…" he trailed off, looking directly at Jasmine. That meerkat seemed to be in a trance- that meerkat whose name he didn't even know. "Hello?" he called, waving his hands in front of her face. "Hello? Anyone in there?"

She snapped out of it. "What? Huh? Oh, sorry… Um, what was that again?"

"Oh, don't worry. Just trying to make conversation, that's all."

"No, go ahead. I was just thinking about something else then…" she replied, almost feeling guilty.

"Really?"

"Yes."

Gopher thought for a second, then opened his mouth. No words came out. He tried again; thinking, and then opening his mouth. Nothing came. He laughed an embarrassed laugh. "It seems I have forgotten what I had to say."

Jasmine chuckled. "Don't worry; I was just in a trance again… Your breath would've gone to waste." She chuckled again, this time with Gopher.

"See? All we needed was something to break the ice."

"What's ice?" she asked.

Just as he was about to explain, a young elephant walked by, staring at the ground. It seemed she was sad, so why wasn't she with her herd; her family? Jasmine and Gopher just stared at her for awhile, trying hard not to make their actions obvious.

"Should we go and see what's wrong?" Jasmine finally said.

"Hey, you go ahead, but I'm staying right here!" he exclaimed.

"Why?"

"She's huge- and I'm not saying that just because she's an elephant!"

"Oh, be nice." she replied, getting up to go and see what was wrong. Gopher got up too, only to scamper behind the tree. All he saw where he got to the other side was a mass of great grey behemoths that trumpeted deafening sounds and shook the ground when they walked. Clearly, following Jasmine would've been much less of a frightening experience, which was what he did, after he managed to get control of his shaking legs.

"What changed your mind?" asked Jasmine as Gopher caught up with her.

"Let's just say that that girl's just the tip of the iceberg."

"Iceberg?" she asked curiously. Gopher was about to explain yet another time, but was interrupted. "Uh… You'll have to tell me later." she said hastily, as they neared the elephant.

The girl turned around. She greeted them shyly. A weak 'hello' was all the meerkat and gopher received.

"Hi." Jasmine said, softly. "My friend and I saw you from that tree over there and were wondering if anything's wrong."

"…No… Nothing's wrong. I'm just a little sad, that's all."

'Sad, eh?' Jasmine thought to herself. It would later come to light that all three of them there had been grieving lately.

"My name's Charlotte, by the way."

"My name's Jasmine."

"Jasmine? I like your name."

"She's polite for a fat person." whispered Gopher. No sooner did Jasmine jab his foot with her heel. Needless to say, Gopher wasn't going to mention Charlotte's weight any more.

"Why don't you just go over there, little gopher?" asked Jasmine, in a rhetorical fashion. Gopher didn't want to waste any time. He didn't like being around people that were incredibly huge, compared to him.

"Is there anything wrong with your friend?" asked Charlotte.

Jasmine chuckled. "I hope not."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, well I've only known him for awhile. Like, a day."

"That's not very long at all."

"I know." Jasmine sat down. "So… Do you want to tell me why you're sad?"

The little elephant was hesitant in answering. "Well… I just lost a friend awhile ago."

"Oh, you poor thing." replied jasmine, sympathetically.

"Yeah… There were these wild dogs that attacked us, and no one was hurt, except Darroul, because they forgot about him."

"Was Darroul your friend?"

"Yeah, Darroul as my friend. That's why I'm sad. My daddy went to scare them all away, but when he found Darroul, he was too late."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Charlotte's face brightened as she lifted her gaze from the ground to Jasmine. "Oh, don't be sorry. It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault."

The conversation paused for a moment before Jasmine continued. "I lost a friend, too, Charlotte."

"So… Your friend isn't here anymore?"

"My friend is still here, I just can't see him."

"Huh? Is your friend invisible?" she asked, puzzled.

"No." she replied, forgivingly. "I'm just not allowed to see him."

"Oh." Charlotte giggled. "Silly me." She paused. "Why aren't you allowed to see him?"

Jasmine didn't know what to say. 'Because my mother doesn't want me to be happy'? 'Because I'll be exiled if I do'? What was she supposed to tell this child, who was still at this tender age? "Um… Because someone doesn't want me to, and they'll hurt me if I do." was all she could make up for the moment.

"Well that person's a big meanie! You shouldn't listen to them, Jasmine. They won't hurt you, they're just bluffing- that's what my daddy always says."

Jasmine sighed. 'If only it were that simple' she thought to herself, looking up at the sky.

**xxx**

**3:00am**

**The western regions of the ****Grey****Mountains**

**1 day and 2 nights before the cave-in**

**Approximately 48 hours after the death of Seer Waturi, of Tarot's herd. **

_One more step... Need to grab that foothold… _

Sapphire, Orion and Coyle hadn't slept in a day. They were all seriously worn out, and what they needed most right now; sleep, food and water, was nowhere to be found. They'd been climbing up mountains all day, then sliding down, and then climbing again. It just repeated itself. This place was like a maze. Would the climbing ever end?

_To the far boulder… Not much further…_

Coyle lead the climb, as usual. 'How is he always so full of energy?' Sapphire had once thought. But now, she knew that he was just like her. She couldn't hear herself think over Coyle's panting. Or was it Orion? Or was it hers? It was probably all of them.

_I need sleep… _

By now, climbing was at a subconscious level, just like breathing. In fact, breathing had become more of a chore than a natural thing. Seconds melted into minutes, minutes fused into hours, and hours became the infinite fuel for the mountains to keep going on, and on.

_I'm so tired…_

Sapphire felt her paw flick downwards, and heard a small rock bounce down into the fog below. She'd chosen a bad place to put a quarter of her weight, but she was lucky enough to have the remaining 75 on stable ground. She was getting clumsy. That was a worry. If she fell, she would fall a long way, and if she was lucky enough to come out alive, her body would be aching even more than it was now.

_Why are we doing this? Where is Coyle leading us?_

Her eyelids grew heavy and her head even more so. The thought of sleep ran through her head another time. How nice it would be, just to rest. But alas, she realised, once again, that she could not sleep, even if Coyle allowed it, for the only places that you could touch without cutting yourself were only big enough for her paw to be placed in.

_I can't breathe… I can't breathe!_

She looked back. How far had they come? It was impossible to tell. How far had they climbed? Who knows? The thick fog that made the Grey Mountains just that bit more dangerous and confusing only allowed you to see several metres around you. But, why was she looking back, anyway? No matter. She looked back up shortly afterwards, to see that Coyle, who was about five metres ahead of herself and Orion, had stopped climbing.

"Oh no…" was all that she could pick up. Shortly after this, came a series of mumbles and the like.

_What did he say? I need to know what he said…_

What did those mumbles mean? Sapphire had to know. She needed to. Why? It might have been something important. But, would she waste her breath asking for a clearer version of those mumbles? Of course not. For the last few hours, breath had been more valuable than water during a drought.

_One… More… Step… To the boulder… The boulder. _

Sapphire had finally reached the top of the climb, and fell, with a thud, and closed her eyes, tightly shut. Thankfully, what she landed on was smooth ground, but she couldn't be bothered to check, anyway. The burning feeling of acid disappeared, and slowly, slowly, her breath returned. That was as close to sleep as she would get without actually sleeping.

_Ah… That is so much better…_

Orion managed to pull himself up onto safe ground soon after. What he saw was nothing short of amazing. Whatever mother nature did to create what was in front of them, she had outdone all her other works. It could only be described a pathway of rock that continued on into the fog. It was just wide enough for one lion to walk on it; any others had to follow closely behind. There wasn't even enough room to turn around, and none of them knew what was lying in wait, in the darkness. Once they started walking, there would be no turning back, and if they fell, they wouldn't survive the impact either- it was impossible to tell how far it was down into the never ending darkness.

"We'll have to try that tomorrow, Coyle." said Orion, panting. "I know that none of us can go any further today.

**xxx**

_Back to the present day… _

The sun had begun to set, and Maloumba had come to take Charlotte away from Jasmine, but she promised the little elephant that they would talk again some day. She almost felt obliged to do so, for some reason. As Gopher laid eyes on the large bull, he quite literally passed out, and so Jasmine became obliged to do another thing- to wake him up.

Torres' pride had been told by the tyrant himself that he was going to visit the 'lions in need' in the northeast, but they were all sure that he was lying. In actual fact, he had been summoned to the Dark Lands by his lord, who had more control over him than he had always thought.

Torres stepped over the piles of ash and burnt matter to the Abyss, where his lord resided. This time he had brought several dead birds to awaken the evil deity. As he threw them into the darkness, the fog stirred unnaturally once again, eventually forming the face of the all-consuming lion.

"My lord…" Torres bowed in respect, and fear. Fear was what the spirit used to control his minions- fear of what would become of them if they ever disobeyed it. Torres only met this deity by chance. Back in the day, when he was still a good leader, he was patrolling the Dark Lands after a dream that a missing member of his pride had come here, and was in need of help. He didn't manage to find that missing person, and instead, unwittingly fell into the Abyss, where the evil spirit found him, and offered him his life back, in return for his services. Torres had no choice, or so it seemed. His pride needed him.

"Torres. You have done well in exiling those three nuisances, but I see that your entire pride has become suspicious. That will disrupt my plan…" it began.

"What do you suggest I do, my lord?"

"There is nothing you can do." It paused. "… For the time being. But we shall see in the future."

"May I ask, my lord, what of Sapphire, Orion and Coyle? Are they dead, as you have planned?" he asked.

"They are the very reason I have called you here. They are, indeed, still alive, and they are extremely close to food, and water, though they do not know it- yet. I need a host, Torres."

"A host, master?" he asked, puzzled.

"Bring me a host. It must be unwounded, it must be able to fly, and it must be alive. Bring it here. Throw it into the Abyss that you see before you. I shall do the rest of the work."

"Yes, my lord."

"You may leave. Hurry. I need this host by tonight. This is the most important part of my plan, and if you fail me, Torres, your entire pride, and the whole of the valley will suffer dearly."

What the entity had in mind would cut huge percentages off the chances of the three lions surviving. Just when they would think that they were out of trouble, it would strike, and anyone who had seen this entity attack, centuries ago, would know that once it did, nothing could stop it.

**xxx**

**6:00pm**

**Western regions of the ****Grey****Mountains**

**1 night before the cave-in. **

**Approximately 75 hours after the death of Seer Waturi, of Tarot's herd. **

Coyle was the first to step onto the path that had been carved out of the rock around it to the extreme, then Sapphire, and finally, Orion. One step. Two steps. It didn't seem easy to lose your balance here, but none of them wanted to take that chance. Just one look down below was enough to make anyone afraid of heights. It took them about ten minutes to get to the middle of the path, which was when Sapphire turned back to see a lone stork flying directly towards them. Its eyes blazed a sickly red, and as it approached, the ground shook in terror.


	6. Spirits

Shadowland

Chapter 6

Spirits

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way, except for being a fan of his work. Shadowland, Chapter 6: 'Spirits' is property of Troy Wong, a.k.a. Chookooblash, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.

I hope you enjoy reading my stories. Long live the king!

**"Know who your friend is, and who your foe is."**

-High Shaman Rafiki, during the reign of King Mufasa the Great; 3rd King of the Pridelands.

**6:00pm**

**Western regions of the ****Grey****Mountains**

**1 night before the cave-in. **

**Approximately 75 hours after the death of Seer Waturi, of Tarot's herd. **

"What is that?" asked Sapphire, looking back at the approaching figure. Coyle didn't think much of Sapphire's question. He knew she was tired, and perhaps thought that she could be hallucinating.

"What's what?" he asked in return. He didn't even bother to look back to see what it was. If he did, all he would have seen would be two glowing red dots in the distance, coming ever closer. Orion did turn back, staring at whatever it was out there for a few moments. Before he could say anything, the ground shook under his feet. Sapphire screamed as she was nearly thrown off the path.

"It's coming closer!" Orion exclaimed, as the first wave wore off and he regained his balance. Coyle decided to turn back this time, to see what it was. Then, the ground shook again as the three lions heard cracking sounds.

Sapphire looked in front of her to shout orders to Coyle. "Keep going! Run!" she yelled at him. Coyle didn't say anything. He just stood there, looking at those peculiar lights in the sky. Before Sapphire could yell something else at him, they heard more cracking sounds coming from behind them. It turned out to be the path that was beginning to crumble and fall underneath their feet.

Now Coyle couldn't afford to stand still and stare blankly. He ran, alright- for his life, and for those of the two people behind him, who could move if he didn't do so first. And the whole time, these two red, shining spots were growing bigger and brighter; moving closer.

Finally, after countless metres of running, it seemed that they had come to the end of the rock path. However, just before they could make that final leap to safety, a huge rock spire burst up from the ground right in front of them, blocking their escape route. Coyle cursed under his breath and yelled.

With the ground disappearing slowly under their feet, no way of escape, and strange lights getting closer in the distance, what were they to do? "We have to jump!" one of them yelled. It was impossible to tell which one over the noise.

"We can't do that! We'll kill ourselves!" Sapphire heard herself yell at the top of her lungs.

"We're going to die anyway!" Orion yelled back, the dust rising around him, making it hard to see and breathe. They had made their decision- they were all going to jump, but as they prepared to fall into the darkness below them, the sky flashed white, and all hell broke loose. Gales blew in from all directions, and thunder and lightning crashed so close to them that they could feel the heat singeing the hairs on their faces. It was a storm without rain.

Sapphire winced and tried to hide her eyes from the light as best she could without falling to her doom. As soon as it seemed that the bright lights had gone away, she lifted her head to see that everything around her had disappeared; Orion, Coyle, and even the landscape. All that was left was her consciousness and white, everywhere. What had happened? Where was everything? It must have been a trick. Was she dreaming? Was it magic? Had she died?

Had she?

She turned to her right to see an ethereal, maladroit ball of darkness hovering in the air. Then, it burst, and its daemonic contents began to spew out into the pure white surroundings. What was this? It couldn't be real. But then, why could she feel the strange ooze of the black liquid under her feet as it touched them? Why did she feel like she was sinking? Because she was.

It was like quicksand. The more she struggled, the more she sunk. In seconds, she was shoulder-deep in liquid darkness. It just kept rising. It consumed her. Before she knew it, the black stuff had risen up to her nose. She took one last panicked breath before it covered her completely. When would it stop? Was it going to end like this?

"No!" boomed a godly voice. Where did it come from? It was impossible to tell, despite how incredibly loud it was. It seemed to come from everywhere, if that was possible- even from inside her head. Seconds after hearing the noise that was so alike to thunder that you would duck into a cave after hearing it to avoid the rain, she could breathe again. Whatever she had just been drowning in had completely gone, and not one spot of black liquid was left. Wherever she was, that place was pure again.

"Sapphire…" called the voice.

Sapphire turned around. She looked behind her, and glanced to her left and right. Where was that voice coming from? "Father…?" she asked, somewhat hopefully.

"Your father is here… But that is not the case."

"What do you mean?" she shouted back. "Let me see him! Let me talk to him!"

"I am afraid I cannot do that, Sapphire… But you must do something for me. What I have done for you, you must do for my kingdom. Evil lies dormant in us all, and at any time, it could strike. Watch the two that you travel with. Watch them very closely… Restore the land to its former glory. Go. Now!"

"Sapphire!" yelled Orion, right in her face. "Is anyone in there?"

"Huh? What?" she said, lost.

"I said we should get some sleep before tomorrow."

"Sleep where?" she asked, curiously, as though Orion was crazy.

Orion looked at her is if she was the one that was crazy. "Well, look around you." He stepped back to reveal to Sapphire that she was standing in a huge cave. Its ceiling was metres off the ground, and one hundred elephants could fit in it with ease. Its extreme roominess gave the place a sort of an eerie feel. Sapphire ran around the room to see it all. Was it possible? How did she go from a white room to this in seconds? Wasn't she just talking to a ghost? Was it a ghost? What was it?

"What? How'd we get here?" she finally asked. "Where's Coyle?"

"Well, Coyle's just gone off to look for a way out of here, and we walked here."

"Huh? What do you mean, we walked here? Weren't we just in…" she trailed off.

"Sapphire, are you feeling alright?"

She sighed a deep, confused sigh. "I'm fine… I'm fine." she uttered, as she curled up into a ball to sleep.

**xxx**

Coyle walked, all alone through the stone corridors. In most parts of the caverns, there was no light, whatsoever, and so every step he took was a test of his faith. Was this a safe path, or would there be a pit somewhere along the line? He didn't know. There wasn't any way of knowing, if you were a lion.

One step, two steps. It seemed like he had been walking for hours. His joints ached, and his muscles felt like they were burning. Why was he even doing this? So that he wouldn't have to the next morning. He had to find a way. Why? Why all by himself? Because it would be no use if all of them suffered when only one of them had to.

The caves were so empty that Coyle could hear his own breathing echoed everywhere. The sound was so loud compared to the silence. It was unearthly. To walk alone in these caves was to leave behind your own consciousness just before a long journey.

_'The plant knows when to drop its leaves…'_

What was that? Did he just hear that? Why did it sound so familiar? Was it even a sound, or was it just his imagination?

_'When the leaves are doing more harm than good, they are dropped…' _

That one was shrilly real. Coyle could've even sworn that he heard the voice coming from in front of him.

_'Why are you doing this, Coyle?' _

Immediately, he stopped walking. What was that? It called his name. It has just called his name. That must have been real. He couldn't help it. It was in his inquisitive nature to do so, and so he talked back to whatever it was out there, but doing so may just have been his biggest mistake. "Who are you? Where are you?" he called out softly, to the darkness. His voice echoed like a thin beam of light in a mirror maze.

_'I'm right here, Coyle.' _

"Where?" he asked, a little panicked. "Tell me."

_'That is not important.'_

"Yes, it is. Tell me, now!" he yelled.

_'If you must know, I am everywhere. I inhabit these caves… I can't escape. And there I go, giving too much away.' _

"What do you mean? You're a spirit?" he asked

_'You don't seem to believe me… Don't you believe in ghosts?' _

Coyle paused for a moment to absorb everything in. "No, actually. I don't."

_'You don't believe in the walls that surround you? The darkness that covers you? The ceiling that is above you?' _

"What is that meant to mean?" he asked, questioningly.

_'Don't you believe in things that are real?' _

He ignored the question for the time being. "Why are you here?"

_'Again, Coyle, my boy, that is not important.' _

'Coyle, my boy'. Torres used to call him that. From the earliest days of his childhood, back when Torres was still 'normal'. Could this have been Torres? Somehow, had that crazy old man gotten here to confuse him, and scare him? Unlikely. But Coyle had to confirm it. "Who or what are you?"

_'Not important.'_

Coyle subtly looked behind him. He'd rather get out of that cave, back to Orion and Sapphire than suffer whatever this thing had in store for him. He turned around, and bolted for the exit. Before he was anywhere close, though, his muscles cramped, and his bones froze. He couldn't move, and it seemed that the more he tried to, the more he felt the terrible, terrible pain. After he fell to the floor, and was done with screaming in anguish, he heard a chuckle.

"What do you want with me…?" he managed to say, jaws clenched.

_'I just want you to ask yourself why you're here.'_

Coyle painfully lifted himself onto his feet. "What… Do you mean…?"

_If they weren't following you around, you'd be free to go off and find food… You'd be safe, rested, and in paradise by now without those two to drag you down…'_

"Sapphire and Orion?"

_'Why are you helping them? What have they done to pay you back? Do you know what they're doing now? They're sleeping! They're resting while you're out here, finding a way for **them**! You're going to be absolutely exhausted tomorrow and how will they be feeling? Fine! They'll feel terrific as you lead them, with your heavy head and drooping eyelids, desperately craving sleep!' _

"That isn't true! We're in this together!"

_'Listen to yourself… It's terrible. Have they some sort of control over you?' _

"They're my friends!"

It mocked him with its piercing cackles and laughs. _'Your friends? Hah! The girl hates you, and the male is dangerously close to seeing you only as a stranger! You're better off by yourself, Coyle!' _

"No! You're lying!"

_'The plant knows when to drop its leaves… When they're doing more harm than good. The plant is wise… Don't be a fool Coyle. You're smarter than a fool!' _

Coyle tried making a dash for it again, but the same excruciating pain that had previously temporarily paralyzed him returned. "Let me go!" he screamed. For nearly a minute, there was nothing but silence.

_'Fair enough. Leave.' _

**xxx**

By midnight, Coyle had considered what the thing in the caves had told him. He had decided to, indeed, leave the other two behind, and go at it solo- as well as that, he'd found the shortest route out of the cave. Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for his other two 'friends', Orion and Sapphire had woken up by that time.

They began walking through the complex system, and after an hour of doing so, they came across a fork in the road. Coyle had explored both paths earlier on, and had concluded that the left passage was safe, but long, and the right passage was risky, but short. He had already decided to take the right passage, but Orion thought otherwise. That could have been because he had slept long enough, and had a decent amount of energy to burn, whereas Coyle had been awake the whole time, and so wanted to get the whole journey over and done with. Sapphire eventually agreed with Coyle- a decision she would soon regret. Majority won, and so, the three ventured into the right passage, where Orion would soon disappear.

**xxx**

_Present day…_

And so, after the cave-in, there were two. Every moment Sapphire lived after that day was like torture. She wasn't able to sleep, because every half hour, she'd wake up looking for Orion, hoping it was all just a bad dream. Every metre she walked, she felt like she would collapse from exhaustion. Every step she took, onto the could, dead, ashy ground of the Grey Mountains, or the white-hot sand of the desert following the rocky peaks, she struggled to stop herself from falling down and refusing to go any further. And, every agonising word she spoke; every painful breath she breathed, she wished she hadn't.

By the time the desert sand had once again turned to grey, ashy ground, both lions had long lost track of time. Had it been hours? Had it been days? Had it been weeks? To them, it felt like months; months without food, or water. Lions weren't even supposed to be awake, nearly as long as they were per day. It was a horrible nightmare that they couldn't escape, and whether Orion had been there, with them all that time, or not, it wouldn't have made any difference.

Coyle and Sapphire had eventually made their way over the dark foothills that surrounded the mysterious black land where they had arrived after their journey, and there, they slept a sleep well deserved, for a whole day; maybe more. But as they regained lost energy, their deep slumber and dreams blocked out a very important fact.

They were being watched.

**"After traveling for seven days and eight nights, the lions will come across a great artifact of the past; the staff of a legendary shaman that gave his life in vain for the good of the Circle. Upon touching the ancient wood of the staff, taken from the Tree of Life itself, Coyle; Second Shaman of Claw will have his first vision; the vision that will have a great influence on his fate, and those of all living things around him. He will be empowered with all the energies of past shamans, and so will begin his journey to becoming a real shaman; the first shaman to become what he will be without the teachings of an elder." **

-2nd part of the 283rd prophecy of the Great Shaman Metutu, during the reign of

King Mohatu; Greatest and Highest King That Ever Ruled.


	7. Meerkat Manner

Shadowland

Chapter 7

Meerkat Manner

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way, except for being a fan of his work. Shadowland, Chapter 7: 'Meerkat Manner' is property of Troy Wong, a.k.a. Chookooblash, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.

I hope you enjoy reading my stories. Long live the king!

**"Meerkats? Not the smartest creatures around, young Sire. And from what I've seen, the majority of them have the most horrid sense of humor." **

-Majordomo Zazu the hornbill during the reign of King Mufasa, to Young Prince Simba.

It was the middle of the day by the baobab tree that marked the territory of the Mesa Meerkat family. The sun's heat pounded down on everything, and even the foliage nearby seemed to be getting weighed down by its intensity. It hadn't rained in a few months, and that didn't help the fact that Chilli had decided to expand their tunnel complex on that very day.

Levi, Troy, Julia and Maxwell were working towards the west of their territory. One would keep watch while the others went to work. It was pretty much the same routine for everyone else; Ruby, Joshie, and Zippy in the north, Jasmine, Gopher, Paul, Matt and Charlotte the elephant in the northwest, Stella, Tino, Samuel and Sam in the south, and, finally, Chilli, most of the remaining colony, and the children in the center of it all.

Anyone who wasn't part of a digging team or with Chilli was a sentry. They quickly spread out, creating a circle around the family's territory, scrambling up to their viewing platforms, such as elevated ground, and boulders to do nothing other than to scurry, sniff, and flinch repetitively. This was an ancient technique passed down through all the generations. It was believed that, that very method of spotting predators originated from the same colony that Timon, the greatest hero known to meerkats came from.

At this particular point in time, Matt's group was just beginning to find a good starting spot for their dig. It took awhile, but they didn't mind, because they were in the direct shade of the nearby baobab tree's trunk. Gopher couldn't do much when it came to digging, and neither could Charlotte, so, two of them kept watch while the other two started their digging.

"So…" began Gopher. "Did you feel the love a couple of nights ago?"

"Huh?" she exclaimed.

"You know, that night of the full moon."

"Oh, well, normally, I'm asleep in the night time, but this one time, not long ago, I had to stay up for my friend's funeral." she replied, in an innocent, carefree, and generally childish way.

Gopher nearly choked. That didn't go too well. "Uh, well… I'm sorry to hear that."

She chuckled. "You know, that's just what Jasmine said when I told her that."

"Jasmine? You mean, my friend down there?" he asked, pointing down to the newly dug tunnel entrance.

"Yeah, that's her." She paused. "You're not very good at remembering friend's names! Don't your other friends get angry at you?"

Gopher's face darkened a little. "Ah, well, I don't really have any other friends."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "No other friends at all?"

The little rodent sighed. "Well, I used to, but… Not anymore."

"Oh."

Robert was a sentry as well, and since he wasn't allowed anywhere near Jasmine, he decided to keep watch almost as far away as possible from her in the south. While leaving Jasmine to her work, Robert went closer to Tino's group for a little bit of company. It wasn't too long before his eyes strayed from the horizon to the new tunnel nearby, and being the great tunnel digger/know-it-all that he was, Robert absolutely had to lend his 'experience' and 'advice'.

"You know," he began, pointing into the darkness of the burrow, "that'd be a lot easier if one of you dug while the other three kept that loose dirt in check, instead of you just taking turns, like you are now."

A short moment passed before Samuel pulled his dirt-smudged face out of the sand. "Uh huh?" was all that he muttered before re-entering the dusk.

Robert glanced at Stella for a second. "Stella, I really think you should take a break. You don't look so well to me."

"I'm fine." she replied, sternly.

"Seriously, Stella-"

"Hey, Rob, you might not wanna keep bugging her about that." suggested Sam.

Robert just ignored him that time. "Stella, really, come on. Take a break. You can be sentry for awhile. I'll dig."

"I said I'm fine!" she shouted.

Rob spotted a foot step out of the tunnel, and hoped it was Stella, actually taking his advice, but, no, it was only Sam, trying to get the noise back into his ears. He'd come out to have a word. "Rob, you really don't wanna do that."

"Nonsense. Stella wouldn't dream of hurting me. Would you, Stella?" he asked, seeming a little too sure of himself. There came no reply. "Stella?"

"Rob, look at me." whispered Sam, grabbing him by the shoulders and turning him so that they were face to face. "You don't wanna do that."

"Sam, you need to relax a little. Come on out, Stella!"

"Shut up!" she bellowed, her voice echoing through the warren, nearly deafening poor Tino, who was standing right next to her, and messing up Samuel's hair. Sam and Robert just stood there for a minute. Nothing happened for a short while, but the worst was soon to come.

"Hey, someone's getting a little frustrated. That means you have to come out!"

"No Rob. Rob, you're a dead meerkat. You're a dead meerkat, Rob!"

"You're exaggerating."

"No way, man. She's a homicidal mania…AHHHH!" he yelled, as he turned to see the power of steam engine, materialized, and compacted into one furious, frustrated, fuming meerkat running towards them, screaming a blood freezing, bone chilling, nonsensical war cry. She leaped into the air, right at Robert, arms outstretched, ready to grab and strangle his frail neck. In mid air, she must've changed her mind, because in place of a choking strangulation came a bone-shattering blow to the face that knocked the aggravatingly persistent Robert to the ground with a thump.

But the pain didn't stop there. As Sam cowered and ducked behind a rock in fear, Stella grabbed her hapless, helpless, horrified victim by the shoulders and smashed his body into the ground repeatedly.

"ARGH! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! BAH-" screamed Robert, desperately hoping that she would stop. But once Stella got angry, there was no stopping her.

"SHUT UP!" she yelled, clenching her fist and raising it into the air. Robert shrunk away in fear, ready to take the impact. Before she could unleash all her wrath, though, she was seized by Sam, Tino, and Samuel, as well as a few other meerkats, who had come when Sam ran up to them hyperventilating, and yelling nothing but "Stella! Crazy! Stella! Crazy!" It had happened too many times before for them to ignore it or deem him insane.

With her unearthly strength, Stella shook all of them off like an elephant shakes of the flies with a swish of its tail; not because they were thrown off, but because they were paranoid of what terrible injuries they may have sustained if they were to hang on. A few of the sentries nearby saw what was happening, and after building up the courage, the bowed their heads and ran, screaming, arms flailing, into the fray.

Seventy four injuries, forty-or-so spectators, and the weight of twenty-one meerkats later, Stella was finally brought down. She threw a few meerkats off the top of the mountain that held her down before having wasted all of her energy. Needless to say, Robert wasn't feeling too well after that, but, he had learned a very important lesson.

"Rob! Rob!" called Sam, digging through the near-lifeless pile of his brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, aunts, and friends. He found what he was looking for, soon enough. "Rob! Are you alright?"

Robert had bitten himself on the lip and tongue five times, and his face was the one part of his body that absorb the most harm, so it was no surprise that all he could do was mumble "I think she broke my nose." in a way that gave you the impression that every muscle that was attached to his not-so-good-looking mug had been very recently paralyzed.

Unfortunately for those rodents, the lack of meerkats keeping watch to fuel the increase of meerkats stopping a weapon of mass destruction meant that predators had a full ten minutes to get into Mesa territory. And that is just what the wild dog hunting party, lead by Hiero did.

"Wild dogs! From the south!" barked the closest sentry, as he turned, ran and dived gracefully into the main tunnel entrance, in the middle of it all. These creatures were preyed upon so often, that diving into tunnels had become nothing less than an art form; for some, even a hobby.

The heap of meerkats atop Stella soon became nothing more than a lump, and then, nothing at all, as each and every one of them used up the rest of their life-forces to sprint directly towards the main cavern and tumble in clumsily.

Of course, if you weren't able to move, or didn't haveany energy left, like Robert and Stella, then you couldn't move. Then you'd have to depend on others to haul you to safety. About half a minute passed. Those dogs sure were taking their time, not to mention those other guys who were supposed to come and save them. Then, the silent thought that they, in fact, weren't coming arose. Would they do that? Would they, really?

Before long, Robert heard footsteps coming from somewhere. He couldn't tell. It was strange. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow approaching.

"What are two rodents like you doing out here all alone?"

Robert moaned. Stella snored. Whatever It was that had just spoken to him, he didn't care, regardless of predator or prey. He heard something very close growl and begin to lift one of its front limbs, ready to strike. He scrunched his eyes, tightly shut, and waited for it to strike.

"Don't do it." called another voice. The growling stopped. "You can't just kill those two. They can't even move."

The figure that was standing in front of Robert seemed to move away, dragging its shadow with it. "What? You can't be serious. We've been starved for days, and when we finally find some food, you tell me that we can't kill them?"

Robert kept his eyelids over his eyes, and silently hoped that the female voice would somehow convince the other to spare him.

"They're helpless! How could anyone be so low?

"I'm not being low! I'm getting food for the pack!" Out of the corner of his eye, Robert saw a shadow once again lifting its arm. The female voice began to growl.

"Don't do it."

'Maybe they were lions? Or a couple of wild dogs…' Robert thought to himself.

"Hiero, I said, don't do it."

"Domin, I am the leader of this hunting party! You are nothing but a lousy, stupid rogue female! You can't stop me- I'm the one who decides what happens here."

Mumbles and hidden gasps from the crowd floated around. There must have been a whole pack of them. 'There can't be this many leopards together…' Robert thought. 'And lions don't hunt like this. They're wild dogs!'

Domin barked, snapping her jaws. "If you strike, I will kill you before you kill them." she snarled.

Hiero's paw came down right over Rob's face, and he recoiled in fear as it was beat and dragged away by the dog's own body as Domin carried him through the air, throwing him onto the ground several metres away. She landed on her feet in such a way that he was immediately pinned.

"I may be lousy, but you're pathetic. I may be stupid, but you're a fool. And, not only am I no longer a rogue, but now I'm the new leader of this hunting party. Unless you want to prove to me that you're the most dim-witted, dense idiot I've ever met, you will never speak against my authority again." she spat in his face, before walking away in disdain. She turned her head towards the remainder of the hunting party. "Let's get us some wildebeest for dinner!"

The hunting party yipped and howled in agreement as they followed her to wildebeest territory in the northwestern regions of the valley. Hiero scrambled to his feet and ran after those that he once owned in fear that he would be left alone.

"ARGH! GET BACK, BEASTS! GET BACK!" bellowed Joshie as he ran out of the tunnel entrance with a fruit husk of some sort on his head as a helmet, and a stick as a weapon. "I HAVE A STICK!" he yelled, swinging it around blindly; his headdress sliding down slightly, and covering his eyes.

Meerca poked her head out of the opening soon after. "Hey, guys! They're gone!" she shrieked, running over to Robert and Stella. "Hey, guys… Are you alright?"

Stella snored loudly. By now, she was nearly drowning in her own small puddle of drool. "It hurts to talk." muttered Robert.

**xxx**

The sun had disappeared behind the mountains yet another time, leaving only a dim, temporary orange hue behind to illuminate the night sky for a few more minutes. Gopher sat by the baobab tree with Charlotte, telling her exotic fairytales and legends that definitely weren't from anywhere near Amber Valley. And that gave rise to the question, 'How does a small Gopher pick up tales like these?'

"... so Mickey and Minnie lived happily ever after."

Charlotte paused for a moment to let everything sink in before saying, "Wow, Gopher. That sure was a strange story."

Gopher smiled. "Did you like it?"

"Yeah, you told it really well. Where'd you get that story from?"

"Somewhere far away…" he breathed, looking up to the stars. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts for a brief moment there.

"Where?" asked Charlotte, curiously, trying to link her eyes with Gopher's to bring his view back to her.

Gopher snapped out of his trance. He sighed. "Ah, you wouldn't know where… Nobody from these parts knows where."

**xxx**

_ "Don't be a fool, Coyle. Don't be a fool. The plant knows when to drop its leaves… When they're doing more harm than good. One has already been pulled off for you, and that leaves just one more leaf to be dropped. DON'T BE A FOOL!" _

Coyle's eyes opened and one of his back legs kicked the air. It was that strange voice again. That was the second time it had spoken to him… Or was it? He didn't know how long he had been sleeping, and he could've sworn that words had been echoing through his head like noises through a cave. Looking to his right, he saw Sapphire, still asleep.

And then, a noise. A noise erupted from beyond the surrounding hills. It was a sound he'd never heard before. A laugh crossed with a yip, wrapped in a call. He heard another come from behind him. It seemed to have answered to the first. Again and again they sounded. They came from everywhere. Coyle and Sapphire were surrounded by things that were still hiding.

The pure white mist around him gradually grew darker, and with that darkness, he slowly became aware that they were closing in. Out from the fog right in front of him emerged a creature he'd never seen before, of grey and black colour, just like its surroundings. More revealed themselves. One, four, nine, sixteen, thirty. Sapphire awoke, and hurried to her feet.

They were smaller than lions and bigger than wild dogs. Their teeth were yellow, and the males of the species displayed small, tuft-like manes, much like a horse's. Their eyes were tired, and bloodshot. By looking at their figures, even a fool could tell that they were starving. Several of these creatures barked and growled at the newcomers cautiously. They, too, had never seen anything that looked like Coyle or Sapphire before.

By those who had lived long enough in their presence, they were known as hyenas.


	8. Cornerstones Shattered

Shadowland

Chapter 8

Cornerstones Shattered

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way, except for being a fan of his work. Shadowland, Chapter 8: 'Cornerstones Shattered' is property of Troy Wong, a.k.a. Chookooblash, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.

I hope you enjoy reading my stories. Long live the king!

"**It has already been found."**

-Zira, Most Faithful Follower of Scar,

to her daughter, Vitani, First Outlander to See the Light.

"My herd!" called Tarot. Immediately, the hundred-odd heads of his tribe turned to face him. "As you all know, our young Kyomaraju here claims to possess the powers of the seer."

Kyo looked up at Tarot with a frown on her face. 'Claims to posses'? Didn't he believe her? Why didn't anyone believe her on this one? They believed her when she told them that Seer Waturi had been taken by a leopard. Why didn't they believe her when she said, that Waturi had told her that she had the potential to become the next seer? Why?

'_Be weary.' _

One of her front legs gave way. She wobbled, struggling to eventually regain her balance. "Kyomaraju? Are you alright?" asked Tarot, in a whisper. She just nodded subtly in reply.

'_They're coming.' _

The herd leader continued, "With Seer Waturi gone, she is the only one we can trust with our safety. She has a few things to say now, so, please give her your full attention." A few wildebeests from the crowd cheered and snorted as Tarot stepped back from Kyo, giving her the whole stage. Vienna, by far, gave the loudest cheers of them all.

Kyo began her speech, her voice trembling. "Well, uh… The last thing Seer Waturi said to me w-"

"Woo! Yeah! You go, Kyo!" shouted Vienna, from the crowd.

With all eyes on her, the young wildebeest gave a nervous chuckle before picking up where she left off. "The last thing he told me was that, if what I had told him earlier, about the lion's latest attack on us was true, then-"

'_Look to the west.' _

"Ah." she spat, wincing. It felt like something was digging around inside her head.

"Kyomaraju? Are you al…_don't pay attention.'_

"Wha- What?" She stumbled.

"Kyo…_lions.' _Real words and those of her 'imagination' fused together. It was impossible to tell what was really being said.

"I…" she trailed off, her eyelids closing themselves. "I can't hear what you're saying."

'_Don't pay attention to him!' _

"Ah!" she yelled, painfully, losing control of her limbs, and falling to the ground. Two wildebeests, closest to her, ran to catch her. Some on the crowd gasped and hit their hooves against the floor.

"Kyomaraju!" Tarot exclaimed, hurrying towards her. "What's wrong? Tell me."

"Nothing…" she panted. "I'm just a little tired."

'_Tell them what I'm telling you.' _

Kyo wheezed and fell again; this time she hit the ground. The pain that she felt when her head collided with the earth was like relief compared to the feeling that had made her collapse in the first place. It seemed to have stopped, but when she tried to get back onto her feet, her whole body began shaking violently. Everyone stepped back in fear and confusion, including Tarot. They must have suspected that the plague was back. Perhaps she had caught it from one of the still-unwell Elders.

'_Tell them what I'm telling you!' _

A wildebeest from the group rushed out to help, but Tarot stood in his way. "What are you doing?"

"Get back! She has the plague!"

"No! She wasn't sick before this! Let me go!"

'_West!' _

Kyo squirmed and cringed in pain. "West!"

"Get back!" yelled Tarot.

"Wait! She said something!"

"I don't care! You're not touching her!" He turned to the mob. "Where is the witch doctor? Where's the witch doctor?"

"I'm the witch doctor!" yelled the wildebeest, as he broke through and ran to Kyo's side. He began to chant strange words and spells.

'_Hunting!'_

"Hunting!" yelled Kyo.

"Hunting?" mumbled the witch doctor to himself.

'_Lions!'_

"L-Li-Ll" she gagged.

'_Lions!'_

"Li-"

'_West! Hunting! Lions!'_

"West! Hunting! Lions!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, still trembling. The crowd gasped and looked around, frightened.

The witch doctor looked towards Tarot. "What do we do?"

Tarot knew there wasn't much time. The lions must have heard the cries. They would suspect that his herd knew where they were by now, somehow. They would pounce before long. "Charge!" he yelled, darting to the west. Would his herd follow his example? Would they tear down centuries of solid foundation? Tarot had broken the barrier of natural instinct. All he could do now was trust them to do the same.

Out of the grass leaped Gharah, heading directly towards Tarot's horns. There wasn't one spare second for the wildebeest to think; he pushed off the ground, head set to impact right in the middle of Gharah's chest. Gharah swiped and roared, but that wouldn't help her. She was head-butted aside, thrown violently to the ground, as the rest of Tarot's herd swarmed ahead from behind him, like a wave sweeps up onto the beach. They overran the crouching lions, and the predators were forced to fall back; Gharah included.

For most of them, it was a triumph. Strength in numbers had just gained a whole new meaning. However, if the wildebeests kept doing that, and their technique was spread to other herd animals, then predatory animals would soon starve. But, if there was no one to hunt, then, it was all the better. Hunters were only living engines of consumption, sitting with their mouths wide open at the end of a meat assembly line. They did nothing good for those that they devoured.

Or, did they?

**xxx **

Gharah returned from the hunt, bringing back to her pride only her hunting party and a few cuts and bruises. She tried to avoid Torres' line of sight, walking to the opposite side of the group, but he would not let her go.

Torres growled and stormed through the crowd, not caring who he happened to step on, or who he knocked over. "Where do you think you're going?" he spat, wrestling Gharah onto her back, pinning her. The whole pride simultaneously stepped back.

His cold glare pierced her eyes, and from her viewing platform on the ground, just centimetres away from his empty, doll-like eyes, she could see small sparks, like sparks from a fire. And just like sparks from an actual fire, they were contained. They were a raging, wild inferno trapped in one small particle of energy.

'_Gharah, you're going to be a great huntress one day.'_

What were they? Why did she feel so comforted when she gazed at them blankly, even when pinned by this evil tyrant, close enough to feel his breath brushing against her face? What were these strange flickers doing in his eyes?

'_Tell me a story, Uncle Torres.' _

"Why don't you have a kill?" he roared.

She tried to struggle out of his grasp, his crushing weight, but it was no use. She could not break free.

"Tell me!"

"We did not have anything to kill." she replied, calmly.

Torres removed the barrier preventing her to get up, and she rolled to her feet immediately. He looked out to the north, easily seeing a herd of antelope. "There are antelope over there! Why don't you hunt them? And look!" he glanced to the southeast, effortlessly spotting a scattered group of zebras and giraffes. "How about those things over there? Can't you hunt them?" He paused to move his face so close to Gharah's that she could once again see those sparks. "Are you blind?"

'_You better watch your back. She's a mischievous one, she is. Heh, heh.'_

"No. We just couldn't-"

"You couldn't what? Catch anything? Your claws have grown blunt, have they?"

'…_Going to be a great huntress one day.' _

"Torres, you have to understand, even the best of us all can't always expect to return with a kill."

He grunted maliciously. "Sapphire never returned to this place and returned without a kill. Not even when she was ten years of age! She could stalk an entire wildebeest herd for hours when she was a child, and furthermore, bring an adult back here for the pride to eat! You're sixteen now, Gharah. Sixteen!"

"_Only _sixteen."

"Sapphire is fifteen!"

"Then you shouldn't have exiled her, along with your precious Coyle and her friend, Orion!"

"They murdered a cub!"

"Oh, please! Don't make me laugh, you fool! Do you really think you can trick me into believing that lie? Everyone knows you're the one who killed him. Admit it!"

And, with nothing but a short breath, the mass was silent again.

Torres backed her into a tree and, in her face, he whispered hard and fast, "I will never confess."

The many small sparks in his eyes had disappeared.

And then, the sound of grass being disturbed.

**xxx **

"**There are antelope over there! Why don't you hunt them? And look!" he glanced to the southeast, effortlessly spotting a scattered group of zebras and giraffes. "How about those things over there? Can't you hunt them?** **Are you blind?"**

"Stay together… Don't be thrown off by their needless quarrelling." whispered Domin, crouched in the grass. Her hunting party; her pack hid near her in tranquil silence. It was very different from Hiero's technique of running in, barking and snarling. And, so far, it seemed to be a lot more effective.

"**No. We ju…… ould…-"**

A growl vibrated from behind her. She turned around and gave every one of them a nerve-racking stare.

"**You couldn't what? Catch anything? Your claws have grown blunt, have they?" **

Inch by inch, they made their way closer to the unsuspecting lions. To everyone else, Domin's plan of attacking those people was as crazy as Hiero's 'smart' idea of hunting down elephants. Not to her. She had everything planned out. She knew things that they didn't.

"**Torres, you have to understand, even the best of us all can't always expect to return with a kill."**

"Keep moving…"

"**Sapphire never this place and returned without a kill. Not even when she was ten years of age! She could stalk an entire wildebeest herd for hours when she was a child, and furthermore, bring an adult back here for the pride to eat! You're sixteen now, Gharah. Sixteen!" **

Every day and night, back at Utopia Lake, she would listen hard. She would concentrate. And she would hear the voices of the thousands of animals in Amber Valley. From Julia's childish schoolyard teasing, to Diego attacking and killing Seer Waturi- she knew it all.

"**_Only _sixteen."**

"**Sapphire is fifteen!" **

"On three, my brothers and sisters… One."

"**Then you shouldn't have exiled her, along with your precious Coyle and her friend, Orion!" **

And she knew that with Sapphire, Orion and Coyle gone, the pride was as weak as they ever were.

"**They murdered a cub!"**

"… Two."

"**Oh, please! Don't make me laugh, you fool! Do you really think you can trick me into believing that lie? Everyone knows you're the one who killed him. Admit it!" **

Domin eyed the fallen branch of a nearby acacia tree in reach of her foot. In her understandable confidence, she lifted her front leg over the copse, and with a swift jab, snapped it in half.

"Three!"

A cleaving surge of wild dogs burst out from the concealment of the grass, pushing off the ground and soaring through the air like a terrifying swarm of giant locusts, claws ready, prepared to draw blood from lion flesh, and maws open, set to crunch into some long awaited foodstuffs.

"Get down!" bellowed Gharah, the first to react to the incoming danger. Her lionesses roared and lengthened their claws and reacted in turn. Some charged to the front, and some jumped back. Sapphire had taught her hunting party well. Now, all Gharah had to do as her replacement was to keep them in check.

And that was all she ever was. A replacement.

Daeon sprang to action, running forward to face the threat, smashing apart the enemy's formations like a battering ram demolishes closed doors and gates.

The fight was favouring no one on either side at any time. When one wild dog was knocked out, a lioness suffered the same, and when one was killed, another was soon to lose their life as well, shortly after.

But in the thick of the fray, Torres was nowhere to be seen. Not that he was trying to hide, but because no one bothered to look for him. When a pack of barbarians have launched a successful ambush that involves you, and you aren't a barbarian, you generally don't have time for playing 'I spy'.

"We can't hold them off!" screamed one lioness, just before she was thrown to the ground and ripped apart.

Daeon began, "What are we going to-" He dodged to the left and allowed a wild dog to land safely on the ground, instead of landing on him, before engaging the canine in close combat. "What are we going to do?" he yelled, directing his question towards Gharah.

She didn't reply as of yet. She didn't have time to reply. Not many people would, outnumbered two to one. Taking a quick look around, she saw all the pain, and the conflict, and all the carnage that had already occurred. She couldn't allow any more of it to happen.

"Retrea- Ah!" She winced and fell to the ground as pain overwhelmed her front limbs. They had been simultaneously gashed by her opponents- a harsh and pain-causing art form.

"Gharah!" shouted Daeon, rushing to her side to fight her attackers off. He immediately saw that she had been deeply cut, two times. Whatever hope they had of retreat, it was gone now. If they were to leave Gharah behind, they must as well surrender. There was no one else fit for the role of hunting party leader, but now, after her injuries, she would probably be worse off than her 'sisters in pursuit' when she recovered, if she did.

And when everything teetered on the edge of a cliff- ownership of Lion's Den, survival of the pack and death of the pride, and species status and reputation, something unbelievable and supernatural happened.

A bolt of dark lightning- or, at least, what looked like dark lightning, struck from the clouds, right in the middle of the combat, pushing the lions back, and throwing the wild dogs into the dust. In a second, the tides had turned. The lions moved forward, as one, like the gale of a storm. They overran their enemies, and, once again, the dogs had missed their day.

**xxx**

"What is it?"

"I've never seen anything like it before."

"Be careful, it may be dangerous."

"Someone talk to it."

"You go."

Voices whispered amongst themselves from the crowd of strange grey creatures surrounding Sapphire and Coyle. They all stared at the two lions with curious eyes. The two of them seemed just as scared and cautious as the foreigners. When they lay down to sleep about a day ago, they didn't expect to wake up with these things around them.

"We come from a distant land over the mountains." began Coyle, like he was performing a speech. Growls could be heard coming from the crowd as he ended his sentence. "We mean you no harm. We are exhausted from our journey, and all we want is food, water, and a place to sleep."

One of them stepped out from the crowd. His mane was slightly thicker than those belonging to his kin. "My name is Kalandro. I am the leader of these people you see before you. We will gladly offer you a place to sleep, but as for food and water…" he trailed off.

"Yes?" asked Coyle, hopefully.

"Food and water are very scarce in this land. Some of us have not tasted the sweet taste of either of these in weeks. You will most likely not find all of what you're looking for, here." replied Kalandro.

"Does your land possess no food and water at all?"

"You misunderstand me. Food and water are scarce, not because of drought or death, but because of some taking more than they need. Through this cursed land runs Utopia River, and near this river, a waterhole has formed. Our staple food is warthog meat. There are many warthogs around these parts, but few other creatures." said the hyena.

"So why do you say that these things are limited?" asked Coyle, slightly confused.

"The tyrants- there are hundreds of them, and they are the ones preventing us from eating and drinking. This is all I will tell you for now… So if you still want to enter our land, then do so at your own risk."

Coyle glanced at Sapphire. She nodded. They had to go in. Both of them desperately needed food. If they did choose to keep going, then they would probably have starved to death. And besides, they had seen nothing of this 'cursed land' for themselves.

"We will return with you to your home if you will have us do so."

"Very well, then."

"I see you have named your water supply 'Utopia River'. By what name do you call your land?"

Kalandro's face darkened. Subtly, he looked away and paused before replying.

"Shadowland."

"**And after one more day, the lions will find themselves in the territory of creatures that they have never encountered before, creatures that will be worlds apart from them. Creatures in distress, creatures that ever so desperately need their help to survive. Creatures that hate, without ever knowing what exactly it is that they hate. These creatures will be under the control of their tyrants; tyrants whose reign will be a thousand times worse than that of Scar; Brother of King Mufasa." **

-3rd part of the 283rd prophecy of the Great Shaman Metutu, during the reign of

King Mohatu; Greatest and Highest King That Ever Ruled.


	9. A New Chapter

Shadowland

Chapter 9

A New Chapter

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way, except for being a fan of his work. Shadowland, Chapter 9: 'A New Chapter' is property of Troy Wong, a.k.a. Chookooblash, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.

I hope you enjoy reading my stories. Long live the king!

"**If you know how to, you can stop anything from happening. **

**You can stop evil from winning, or you can stop good from being triumphant. **

**You just need to know how.**

**Plan it all carefully." **

-The Legendary Shaman Barkara, Master and Trainer of the

Great Shaman Rafiki of the Pridelands.

"It will take us until noon to reach Utopia River." said Kalandro, as he looked to the sky, trying to find the sun hiding behind the many thick, dark clouds.

In this land, almost no light was present. It must as well have been late evening in Amber Valley.

As Sapphire and Coyle walked through the giant wall that obviously marked the boundaries of the land, Kalandro's whole pack followed. They formed a barrier around the two lions. Perhaps there was danger in their land. Maybe that was why they massed together so readily, like they had been trained to do it.

Or maybe it was to stop the newcomers from escaping.

"Coyle." breathed Sapphire, nudging her companion softly.

Coyle was busy studying the fascinating stone dividers with his eyes. He did not reply.

"Coyle!" she called, still whispering.

"What is it?" he replied after some time.

She looked at his face, at his tired eyes. Suddenly, what she had wanted to say before this just disappeared. Instead, she asked, "Why do you look so tired?"

Sapphire was, no doubt, looking a little bit tired, herself. It was definitely due to all of the recent stress, and overworking. But nonetheless, she was looking better than her counterpart.

"It's nothing." He quickly replied, as if trying to keep new questions from arising.

Sapphire looked more carefully. "It is something." she insisted. "What's wrong? You don't look normal."

"Okay, look." he began, lowering his voice so that no one else would hear him. "I had a few unpleasant dreams while I was sleeping on that day…"

"The day when we arrived here?"

"Yes. I woke up… And soon, I realised that I wasn't going to be asleep again anytime soon. So I took a walk."

"What happened there?" she asked.

He paused to recollect. "I found a strange branch off a tree. It was smooth… And it had these fruit shells, and little trinkets attached to it. I could have sworn that there was this voice telling me to walk up to it and grab it. So I did. As soon as I touched it, I saw things… I don't know how. I don't know why. I just…" he trailed off.

"You just what? What did you see?" she asked. "What is it?"

He glanced at her for silence, looking squarely at the walls behind him. Upon one of the walls stood a shadowy figure. Sapphire turned to look at it as well. The moment she laid eyes on it, she felt a sense of comfort, as well as a chill. What was this thing?

It sent shivers down her spine. Then it ducked down behind the stones and disappeared. The two lions turned away, not knowing what to expect next.

They had not walked for a minute into Shadowland before the ground began to shake furiously and abruptly. Towering fortifications began to; quite literally, disintegrate into sand that poured down into the path, which began to fill up like a puddle trying to manage a whole lake of water.

Sapphire stared at the dust as it plunged to the ground dangerously close to her in large portions. Her eyes grew large with fear.

"You have brought lions into our land! Lions!" bellowed an old, croaky voice from the crowd. Sapphire's heart sank. These hyenas knew what they were. And it seemed that they believed that she and Coyle were the ones causing the quake. If they made it out alive of this one, they would not be welcomed when they reached the home of the new creatures.

"We could try to escape!" Sapphire thought, aloud. "The falling sand would conceal us!"

"No! There is no time!" Coyle yelled back, over the loud noise. "Over there! Run!" he roared, keeping his gaze down, to avoid the dirt stinging his eyes as he ran ahead. Sapphire followed. Now, with Orion gone, the two remaining travelers relied on each other more than ever. They could not afford to go their separate ways.

She turned back one last time, to the entrance. Deep inside, she knew that this passage would be closed to her forever. She could no longer return.

And she spotted something else, too. Standing atop some elevated, natural tower, she saw a lion with eyes glowing red like frenzying fires. One moment passed, before finally taking after Coyle, and running.

**xxx**

Koori's curious eyes moved from left to right as the figures moved by. They reflected the shadows, the movements, and every breath that the lions in front of him made, and took.

He peered outside. Night had fallen upon the land, and the moon shone brightly; it was the only light in the night sky. But still, so many shapes moved around in front of the entrance of a domain that was temporarily his, that it made him question, 'why is everyone up?' Were they having nightmares, as well?

Nightmares of the first few days of their life? Nightmares of carnage, and slaughter?

Then the cub looked around him. Nothing else lay in the grotto with him, but the darkness.

From his own little spot at the back of the Den he could hear their mumbles of confusion, their gasps of shock, and their shouts of rage. He had no idea what was going on. He had just woken up. The voices of his pride echoed through the cave and pierced his mind like the blades of stones that litter the Grey Mountains do. The sound of a thousand stampedes boomed inside his head.

But there wasn't much time for dreams now. He was going to find out what had happened.

"Mother? Mother!" he called, running outside, dodging the movements of the other lions. The child looked around once more, spotting his mother in the crowd, not too far away. Making his way over to her, her saw that the others seemed to be surrounding something.

He felt like he was running through a dark forest. Their sturdy limbs were the solid trunks of trees with scary faces, and their bodies were the canopy. The canopy that covered all in darkness.

Running through a dark forest, running away from the thing. Running away from the lights. The thought of it nearly made him cry.

But he needed not to. He had reached his mother. She was like an emotional cleanser to him. With her, he would never be sad, or angry, or disappointed. With her, nothing could stop him. Without her, though, was a different story.

"Koori." called his mother, looking down at him. He was brushing against her leg.

"Mother." He looked up at her with eyes wide open, gleaming in the light. "What has happened? Why is nobody sleeping?" he asked.

"Something very important has happened…" She trailed off, lifting her view to a place so high up that Koori could not see it.

Her cub looked right at her, waiting for the answer impatiently. "What is it, mother?"

She turned back to him. "Remember when I told you that everything would be alright again? When I told you that we were going to a better home?"

He nodded. "That was before you brought us here."

"Well, we are on our way." she whispered, as a voice that seemed to be coming from the middle of the circle started to speak.

"One our way where, mother?" he asked. No answer came. His mother had already turned back to whatever she was trying to get a good view of before, and was no longer paying attention to him. "Mother?"

"Hush." she breathed, nudging him to make him look where here eyes were fixed.

"Now that I have explained to you most of what we already know about him and all of what I do… We can get to the plans." spoke a voice from the center. It was the same one that Koori had heard earlier.

"What plans?" he asked in a soft voice.

"Quiet, my dear. We will find out soon." answered his mother with haste.

"Without even asking you," continued the voice, "I know that we cannot stand for Torres' rule to continue any longer. We all remember the days when things were good- when he was a good leader for us all, and when food and water were plentiful." It paused.

"But those days are gone! Torres has changed. In our time of need, when the wild dogs attacked not so long ago, he was nowhere to be seen. We suffered three casualties, and many wounds. If not for that strike of dark lightning that took place in this spot, we would not be standing here now… It has now become very clear that he no longer cares for us as his people.

So now is the time to strike!" shouted the voice, with courage and strength. It was Daeon. Koori knew that he had heard that sound before.

"The coward is gone for now, and we do not know when he will be back. Lookouts have been scattered around this area to notify us of his return, which could take place at any time. That is why we must plan quickly.

Here is an idea that Gharah and I have thought up with the help of several other lionesses throughout the pride. The first part of the plan: We send two of our number as spies, to follow Torres the next time he leaves this place. Those two will investigate, and return as quickly as possible. It is unlikely that Torres has any hidden powers, or allies on his side, but if he does, this will make us aware of them.

Next, using the information we would have gained from the first phase, we set an ambush for Torres. We capture him…"

'And then? Then what do we do?' Koori asked himself.

"And we do what we must." The violent words cut through the air like a slate through water.

In a short time, that plan was agreed on. Earlier on, Gharah and Daeon had decided on having themselves carry out the first chapter, but now that Gharah's limbs had been badly wounded, it would be far too dangerous for her.

So another was chosen to take Gharah's place. Her name was Ryun, and now that Gharah wasn't at the top of her game, she was the best huntress in the pride.

The replacement had been replaced.

Ryun's eyes shone a bright auburn colour, and her ears naturally folded backwards. Because of this, it looked like she was always on the prowl.

All they could do now was wait. As they all returned to sleep, Torres slipped back into the Den, as if he had never left. But he had returned to their home, which lay at the southern edge of antelope territory long before that.

So long before that, in fact, that he had heard every word of Daeon's plan. He was ready.

**xxx **

Several days had passed since the night of the meeting. Taruwa was still having dreams about her distant son, Orion. Torres' random bouts of fury and anger were in remission, which had made life smooth and relatively easy for his pride for the time being. For those few days, all their troubles seemed to just melt away in the sun.

But that would only last until the day of the next arranged hunt.

Ryun was teaching Daeon how to hunt, and stalk. With him being a male and having never going hunting in his life, it was not an easy job. Lionesses had been the only ones hunting for hundreds of years. The males had just learned to sit back and watch them do their thing, then, somewhat unfairly, get the first bite of the fresh meat.

The Great King Simba had hunted. But when he fell, along with his mighty kingdom, justice was lost. Fair trials became a thing of legend. An easy life was a thing of dreams, and, above all, the Circle of Life left the people that had lived by its laws and rules for centuries. It left them without a trace.

"One more shot. That's all I need." breathed Daeon, as he crouched low and began to slither through the grass. He was targeting Ryun. He had told her that he was off to The Small Oasis for a drink of water, and a chat with the animals.

She couldn't have been expecting anything. Slowly but surely, he would make his way over to her. Then, when the time was right, he'd pounce, flying through the air, tackling and pinning her to the ground. It was simple. The perfect plan.

"I'll take her by surprise." he said to himself, confidently, as his straight face twisted into an anxiety fuelled smirk.

One step, two steps. Just three more metres. Four more strides. A few more seconds. He couldn't wait. He had to do it now. The wait was killing him.

He roared as he flew out of the grass, into the air. His mouth was open, though his claws were safely out of the way. He didn't want to hurt Ryun. He just wanted to embarrass her.

Daeon was nearing her. She turned to face him. It was his time. She could not react now. She was too slow. He reached out his front limbs to grab her. He felt a thump as he landed, and the impact of his own weight onto the ground shot up through his body.

He had landed humiliatingly short. He had landed conveniently right in front of his teacher. She wasted no time. In a second, he was on the ground, where she was supposed to be. Daeon had been pinned. But it wasn't meant to be that way.

"Pinned. Easily." she proudly announced, looking him in the eye.

'_Pinned ya.' _

Daeon eyed her face and chest carefully. She wasn't even panting. But he could hardly breathe. Before he had opened his mouth to speak, she had cut in.

'_Hey, lemme up!' _

"Next time, be patient. Do not get anxious. Do not leap when you know that you won't make it, and don't stride. Creep. Long steps disturb the grass far too much. You made a lot of noise." she scolded, before unpinning him and setting him loose.

Daeon stayed on the ground long after that. His last attempt at glory took a lot out of him. Maybe he should have gone to the oasis for water, instead of staying here, for humiliation.

He got up as soon as he caught his breath. "You heard me coming?" he asked Ryun, who was now well on her way back to the Den.

She stopped and turned. "Of course I heard you coming-" was all she could say before Torres' voice cut in.

"My pride!" he shouted, calling his lions and lionesses like children. He stood on the same boulder that he had officially exiled Sapphire, Orion and Coyle from. The voice echoed throughout the land.

"We should go now. I'll teach you again tomorrow."

"After some negotiations, I managed to get one leopard to tell me that the plague we have recently suffered from has returned. A young wildebeest child has already fallen victim to it. Apparently, she was the one that alerted her herd of your presences before you were disgracefully overrun by them!" he yelled, directing the message away from Gharah.

Ryun and Daeon arrived, trying not to draw too much attention to themselves. Torres' eyes followed them to the center of the crowd before he continued. "And so it seems that, now, with this plague, you are able to see things that you cannot normally see. Namely, upcoming danger. It could well be a rumor, but, rumor or not, it is worth investigating." He paused.

"I have decided to travel the land in search for more information. I do not know when I will return. It could be in a day, or it could be in a month. One sure thing is that I will return."

Torres slowly stepped down from his elevated position. "I am confident that you can manage by your own for the time being… But I do expect you to be here when I come back." He let out a lonely chuckle, as if that, that he had just mentioned was not a possibility. His pride just watched him, displaying mixed looks and expressions.

"Until we meet again." he finally said, turning and walking off.

His pride scattered and moved amongst each other to find someone to discuss the sudden change with. Voices and chatters erupted from them as if they had been contained for the duration of the short speech, like water rushing forth from a broken dam.

"Looks like we have places to go." Daeon suggested to Ryun. They nodded to each other, and began to say their goodbyes.

**xxx **

"_Hezakiah! Stop this! It's crazy!" _

"_Don't try to reason with me, fool!" _

"_I didn't want you to do this! You never needed to! You can stop! I don't want the Pridelands!"_

"_Close your mouth, you ungrateful idiot! Drawtt, this is your birthright! Do not be afraid to claim it! Hyenas are the rightful rulers of the Pridelands, not lions!" _

"… _I thought I could trust you. I thought I could trust lions. I finally changed my mind, after I met you. After all those years of hate." _

"_What are you saying?" _

"_I was wrong. I will let every hyena in the land know that lions cannot be trusted. I promise you, by the end of my life, there will be no person that calls themselves a hyena that has not heard my story. I will do it if it kills me." _

"… _Fine. Fine! Go on your stupid quest! They will call you and fool! They will taunt you and ridicule you until you are nothing but a sobbing wreck! Because they will know that I am their hero long before you get to them with your lies!" _

"_Let them do so. I have nothing to live for, now." _

"_You don't know a friend when you see one, Drawtt! You do not know a friend!" _

"**_COYLE!" _ **

"Coyle! Wake up! Wake up!" called Sapphire, shaking him violently. "Wake up!"

"Hm? Huh? What?" He woke suddenly.

Sapphire gave a heavy sigh of relief. "Oh, good. We were caught in the landslide."

"Where are we? Where are all the hyenas?" he asked, sounding panicked, as he got himself back onto his feet.

"They're gone. It's just me here." A familiar voice cut in. It was Kalandro.

"Kalandro? What are you doing here? Where is your pride?" questioned Sapphire.

"Pride? You mean 'pack'. They are gone for now… But there is no time for that. Quickly. Follow me."

"But-"

"No! You are in danger!' he yelled furiously.

The sound of voices shouting to each other, mixed with footsteps and barking could now be heard. They were coming from around the corner, and by the sound of it, they were coming closer.

Kalandro turned around with a horrified look on his face. "Oh no. You must go without me. Follow the walls of the gorge to Utopia Rapids. Hide there for the night. When the sun rises in the morning, make your way out of the canyon, and follow the path in the dead grass to Utopia River. Rest there, and hunt the warthogs for food. Just make sure that no one sees you. If they see you, then you must kill them before they alert anyone else. Stay there until I come for you." he whispered hard with haste, looking them both in the eyes to make sure that they were registering. "Do you understand?"

"Yes." Sapphire nodded.

"Good. Go! I will distract them!" he yelled, before he ran around the corner.

Coyle and Sapphire said nothing. They ran as fast as they could, with all their might.

"No, my lord." They heard Kalandro say as they disappeared into the fog.

"You're lying!" boomed an evil, rasping voice.

"No, master! No- ARGH!"

Sapphire winced as she heard him yell out in pain. A part of her wanted to turn back and help him, but the rest of her told her to keep going.

They sprinted down the canyon floor endlessly. It would not end. Their lungs and hearts ached terribly, and their heads throbbed. They both felt like collapsing at some points, but they knew that they could not. Kalandro needed them to be at Utopia River when he got there. He didn't actually say that, but they both knew that he did. Somehow, they knew.

When the two lions reached the river, they let themselves down even more quickly than they did when they arrived in the land at first. It seemed that days of starvation and sleep deprivation were no match for ten whole minutes of sprinting.

Coyle rolled onto his back as Sapphire plunged her head into the rushing water, quickly bursting back up and gasping ferociously for air, realising how cold it really was. She slowly got up with a groan, and made her way over to dry ground that she could call her bed for the night. Coyle eventually did the same.

Just when they thought their troubles had completely gone, more complications had arisen. The next day would bring another emotional, physical, mental and spiritual mountain to climb. It would bring another part of the quest to them.

They could only wait.


	10. Twists and Turns

Shadowland

Chapter 10

Twists and Turns

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way. The characters Simba, Nala, Mufasa, Sarabi, Kiara, Kovu, Zira, Vitani, Nuka, Sarafina, Zazu, Scar, Rafiki, Timon, Pumbaa, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed belong to Disney. Mohatu and Thembi belong to other people. All characters in this story, not mentioned here are my own creations.

The extract from 'Shadowland' (opening poem) was taken from The Lion King on Broadway.

Shadowland, Chapter 10: 'Twists and Turns' is property of Troy Wong, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.

**Shadowland**

**The leaves have fallen**

**This shadowed land**

**It was our home**

**The river's dry**

**The ground has broken**

**So I must go…**

**Now I must go**

Days had passed since Sapphire and Coyle had first made their successful escape to Utopia River. An equal number of days had passed since Ryun and Daeon started putting their well thought up plan to action; since they had started to follow Torres around the valley.

Their main priorities were to uncover any secrets that he could well have been keeping from them, but also, to keep themselves hidden from him during this phase of the plan. All along, they had thought that they had succeeded in the latter, but they were wrong. Torres had known of their presences all along.

The places he was leading them to were all covering up his true, evil identity. They were all fairly normal places that everyone who lived in the valley would probably visit at least once in their lives.

Torres was succeeding. After time, his two stalkers had grown to strongly doubt their own cleverness. But they continued to walk in his footsteps. Before they proceeded in the arrangement, they had to be sure, whether they had been right or wrong.

It had been nearly a week since the lions attempted to hunt the wildebeests for food. Without Sapphire, they were hopeless. In gravely weakening herself, the young wildebeest Kyomaraju had alerted her whole herd of the danger, and saved them from another casualty or two.

They had broken centuries of survival habits brought on my their natural instincts, and, instead of running away and leaving their new seer for dead, they ran towards their hunters, forcing the hungry animals to, in turn, run from them.

But now, Kyo was so weak that she would not be physically, let alone spiritually or mentally capable of alerting the others if more danger threatened. She could barely run, and had trouble standing up.

On the other hand, life had been relatively easy for the Mesas, as well as the elephants of Maloumba's tribe.

Tunnel construction and expansion had been well and truly completed. Stella had been able to restrain herself from attempting to rip apart the insanely annoying Robert, and both of them were recovering from an unwanted outburst they had experienced earlier on.

For this particular family of rodents, it had been nothing but eating, sleeping, drinking, socializing, and having fun for quite awhile. And, in Gopher's case, telling stories to Charlotte, as well.

It was the same deal when it came to the elephants. Life was smooth. For now, all they had to do was sit back, set up their sails, and cruise blissfully all the way to the climax of it all.

But while the lives of the meerkats and elephants of the valley were all good and well, two lions' lives were about to be turned upside down and kept that way. Another two lions had already been experiencing this for less than a seemingly long month.

Diego had had pretty much the same experience as the meerkats and elephants of his home valley. Nothing very exciting, or important, or impacting had happened to him during those days. But he played a very important part. His time for glory was drawing closer with each passing second, but he, of course, did not know it.

**xxx **

With the rising of the sun in the dark, dark sky of Shadowland came another day. Kalandro, the strange creature that had welcomed Sapphire and Coyle into the land had given them a word of caution: **"… Just make sure that no one sees you. If they see you, then you must kill them before they alert anyone else…"**

Both of them strongly disliked the thought of that; killing someone if they just happened to lay eyes on them while searching for something else, or perhaps even just taking a walk by the river. Luckily, nobody had spotted them yet. Nobody had been searching for something else, and then found them instead. Nobody had been walking down the brook.

That was strange. It was a river, the most reliable and convenient water supply in the land and for this land it was the only one. Why had no one gone there to drink? The place was virtually deserted.

That may well have been why the hyena had sent them there in the first place. It was clear that he did not want them to be found.

But why would a place such as this get abandoned like it had been?

Those thoughts were not the main ones on the lions' minds. They were hungry. They were starving, in fact. So when they found an old, rotting carcass of a small animal, they feasted upon it eagerly.

Since they had not eaten in so long, their stomachs had shrunk, and so they were easily filled. But if they had found and eaten this same amount a month ago in Amber Valley, they would still be hungry.

And they thought they were the ones having it bad. To the hyenas that lived in Shadowland, Sapphire and Coyle's earlier lives were like living in luxury.

Coyle had left the river's banks to search for more food when Sapphire spotted Kalandro walking towards her with a limp. She rushed attentively to his side and asked him what happened on the night of her escape, and if he was alright.

"I'm fine. Nothing happened." were his answers for her two questions. "Where is your companion, Coyle?" he asked, as they reached the tranquil, bubbling river.

"He has gone to find more food." she answered.

"Very well. When he returns, we will discuss our next plan of action."

"Ours?" she asked, a little confused. "Are you coming with us?"

Kalandro sighed. He seemed to be a little depressed. "All the other hyenas believe that you caused the quake when you entered here. They think that you are… Lions." He paused. "But I know better. I know wild dogs when I see them. When I tried to tell them, they turned against me. I am no longer welcomed back home…"

"_They think you are…Lions." "I know wild dogs when I see them." _The words echoed in Sapphire's head long after Kalandro had said them. 'What do they have against us?' she thought to herself. 'And… Does he really mistake us for wild dogs? What if he finds out that we really are lions? What will he do to us, then?'

She wanted to find out more.

"Excuse my curiosity, but, what do you hyenas have against these lions you speak of?" she asked.

A speck of suspicion flickered in the hyena's eye. There was a short, awkward silence, during which Sapphire became very tempted to withdraw her words, but she did not. Kalandro answered in the end. "It has been recorded in ancient archives that centuries ago, one lion betrayed our trust, as the hyenas. The lions had already cheated us, and treated us without respect before. This one lion had settled it. We never trusted lions again. We never allowed them back into our land."

She had quickly become fascinated, and disbelieving. "Is that why your land is surrounded by walls and mountains?"

"Yes. It took us years to build the walls. It took us even more time to raise the Grey Mountains from the ground. With their strongest spells, our best shamans could not do it. Then, they remembered the magic that Hezakiah the Traitor had used. That is how they were eventually able to create the natural walls you see around you…"

They had created the Grey Mountains that had given her so much grief? They had created the Grey Mountains which took Orion away from her? It was magic that was able to create mountains and walls. Sapphire had believed in magic that could cure sickness, and cause certain small things to happen, but nothing to that scale. He was beginning to scare her. But she was still curious. She had to ask more.

"What happened to the lions? Did you force them out of the land?"

Kalandro shook his head slowly. "No. Hezakiah the Traitor had done that himself. You see, according to our records, the hyenas used to live beyond the borders of this land, in a bare graveyard. We were kept there by the lions. But the Traitor believed that we were the rightful owners of the land beyond the graveyard. He forced the lions out for us, but we quickly saw that he was going too far. He was such a powerful shaman…"

"Wait." she exclaimed. "This Hezakiah you speak of is a shaman, and a lion?"

"Yes, yes." he confirmed, and then continued. "His magic caused the earth to rip apart in many places. The ground shook with terrible quakes, and burst open, spewing magma and molten rock. He destroyed the land. That is how and why the lions left. We fled, too, to the north. After many years, we came back, hoping that this land would be green once again, and bearing much food. But no." He closed his eyes and sighed again. "It was just how we left it. A terrible sight. Leafless, dead trees were everywhere. No grass grew. The sky was always dark and cloudy, yet no rain fell, at all. The ground was hard, dry, and cracked. There was nowhere else better for us to go, so we settled down here, and slowly grew thinner and weaker."

There were so many more things that Sapphire wanted to know about, but she did not have any more time to ask. Coyle had come back with considerably small, brown pig. Coyle gripped its thigh firmly in his jaws, and from there, the creature dangled limply. Needless to say, he had killed it.

What he had intended to do was to find another half-eaten meal on the ground somewhere, not go hunting. Until then, he had considered himself hopeless at hunting, and that the whole thing should be left to the females. But he had changed his mind.

Upon seeing the swine, Sapphire remembered Kalandro's voice telling her that the staple food of his people was warthogs. This must have been what a warthog was, but she could only guess. She had never seen one of these beasts before.

"Ah, good. You are here." called Kalandro, to Coyle. "Now we can begin our planning."

Then, Kalandro sat them both down and explained that they should cross the river, then walk south, then up and down the southern mountains, until they reached the little-known Southlands. There, they could start on a new, clean slate.

However, in doing so, he had accidentally revealed many important facts about his 'masters', the tyrants that ruled the land- the ones that were, apparently, keeping them from hunting as they wished, and drinking water when they pleased for their own outrageous reasons.

By the time Kalandro had finished explaining, Sapphire had a completely different idea of her own. "Why don't we stay and fight?"

"What?" exclaimed the two males in shock.

"I'm serious. We could overthrow your tyrants, with the help of your pack. Then you could eat and drink as often as you want. There can't be too many of them." she explained.

"Sapphire, have you forgotten that my pack has turned against me?"

"You must have some friends in high places. You were their leader not too long ago, Kalandro. You can't honestly say that you didn't make any good friends over your time." argued Sapphire confidently.

"Well…" He hesitated to continue. "I do not want to go back there. They could give me enough time to explain, or they could rip me apart as soon as they lay eyes on me. I do not want to risk it. Hyenas are not the types that give second chances."

"_Hyenas are not the types that give second chances."_ Sapphire knew why. He had explained it to her on that same day. But Coyle had no idea of the deeper meaning of that sentence.

"We will be there to protect you. Won't we, Coyle?" she asked Coyle, rhetorically, who had matured a lot during their travels. She started talking again, intentionally before Coyle could give an answer. "Yes. We will. We are stronger than we look, you know."

Both of the people she was trying to convince did not look very convinced at all.

"With all of your pack to help us, we easily outnumber these rulers. You told us- there are at least one hundred of you, and only ten of them."

"If it was that easy, we would have done what you are asking us to do a long time ago. But I fear it is not." he replied fiercely.

"Why isn't it easy?"

"The tyrants… They have… Powers. They can bend us to do their will against ours. They can cause storms with a shout. They have invisible hands everywhere that grab and push at their command. With a hundred of us, it is impossible. Maybe if our number were double what it is now… But as it is, we cannot."

'He must be exaggerating.' she thought. "Fine." she agreed. "But before we leave for the Southlands, I must go and see the tyrants that you speak of."

Coyle gave her a look that clearly said, 'What are you thinking? What are you doing?' and Kalandro seemed to be frustrated with her behaviour. Regardless, after eating her fill of warthog meat, the three of them would venture off to Lava Den, the hyena 'headquarters', despite the fact that Sapphire had said, "I must go…", and not "we must go…"

**xxx**

Torres had lead Ryun and Daeon all over the valley in the past few days. Their muscles now strained and ached with every pushed movement, and their heads had grown heavy.

Their plan was to let one of them sleep while the other watched Torres, and awoke the other if their target was to keep moving. They would take turns doing this. It was a good arrangement. Both of them would get sleep, if Torres was normal.

But Torres was not normal, at all. He did not grow tired. His limbs did not strain, even after hours of walking. 'Maybe it is his iron will' they had thought, at first. But when time drew longer and longer, and his performance did not falter, they began to suspect that they were foolishly going against a far greater power than they had ever imagined.

And only then did they start to uncover the truth.

The spirit that lived in the Abyss in the Dark Lands had cast some sort of dark magic spell on Torres, to give him unearthly endurance and strength. The spell had also given him the ability to cast some simple spells of his own.

The strike of dark lightning that had saved the pride from the wild dogs' claws and teeth was not some sort of bizarre natural coincidence. It was Torres. He had created an illusion that made it appear as though he was the dark lightning. Then he had roared an impossibly loud, monstrous roar, and slashed at the wild dogs so unmercifully that they ran away, cowering.

It was a frightful thought that the two stalkers would have to deal with once Torres revealed to them, the full truth.

But he would only do this in the Dark Lands. The spirit in the canyon had left, temporarily, for some other 'important business' involving a possessed bird, and an earthquake, but that was not why he eventually lead the two of them there.

There was just something about the place that he felt comfortable about. It made him feel more at home. The spirit had made him forget everything he held dear to himself. It had made him forget his real family, and his real home.

Now, the spirit was his family, and the place where it was cursed to dwell forever, in, was his home.

By noon, he had reached his destination, and, blindly following him, Ryun and Daeon had reached it also. Torres had stridden hastily into the fog, suddenly disappearing. The thick air in the region made it so that his two pursuers could not think straight. They ran straight out of hiding, into an open clearing, to find him.

He found them first. Then, he revealed the truth. And he prepared to kill them.

He could have succeeded, too, if he hadn't relied on one very unreliable thing. He was hoping very strongly that the thick air would keep them dazed enough, for long enough for him to finish them off. But they soon adjusted to the intense humidity, and managed to escape with the information they needed.

Phase one had been completed. But it was very clear, now, that phase two could not happen without a lot more planning. Torres already knew of their intentions. If he returned to the Den, then he would be ready, and if they tried to ambush him, they would, quite literally, be killed. The whole pride, acting as a unit, could not take him down.

They needed help. So when the two lions arrived back in zebra territory, where their home was located, they immediately spread the information that they had acquired. Along with that, they spread the new word.

"Leave, in groups of three. Go from here, to every corner of the land, and call for help from everyone that you come across. Tell them what I am telling you now. Then, tell them to meet here, in zebra territory. If we are to be rid of Torres for good, then we need everyone we can get, whether they are strong, smart, or fast… Whether they are common folk, or shamans, witch doctors, or seers. This is the end of Torres' reign."

**xxx **

By this time, Sapphire, Coyle, and Kalandro had made it to Lava Den. They had managed to get to the main terrace without any trouble, and were now spying on the 'tyrants'. Unlike the other creatures that Sapphire had encountered in this land, she had seen others of these oppressors' kind in the Amber Valley.

But the ones she had seen were kind, humorous, and helpful. They were on the 'good' side, if there ever was one. The ones in Shadowland were obviously not on the good side. At least, that was what they had heard from Kalandro.

These ones looked a little different, too. The fur of seven of them was navy blue, like the night sky. Two of them had coats that were coloured dark grey, like the thick clouds that always hovered above Shadowland. The last one, who was a little bigger built, and taller than the rest, had black hair, as black as the Abyss.

Sometimes they would walks on all fours, and sometimes they would stand up on their hind legs. Their faces were unusually colorful, as if someone had taken out a set of permanent face paints and went crazy on them one day. Hiding their necks were ruffled up 'manes', grey like the hair of an aged individual.

In their dexterous hands, they held smoothened, slender, detached branches of ancient trees with many strange items attached to them, above the hilt.

They were mandrills. And very strange ones, too. They had a sort of distressing aura about them.

When Sapphire was just about to take Kalandro away and explain to him, what his tyrants were, she had another voice interrupt her. The voice belonged to a hyena named Rae.

"Hey, what are you doing-" Kalandro wrestled him to the ground in a second, and stopped him from speaking. Their plan was ruined. They had to do something. Their only options were to take him with them by force, dispose of him quickly, or to turn him over to their side.

Turning him over was the best one, by far. And they were in luck. Rae was a dear friend of Kalandro's. He could talk to this hyena. Rae would be on their side so quickly. Not only that, but he was the 'friend in a high place' that Sapphire had been telling Kalandro he had.

But the mandrills nearby had been alerted by the sound. Two of them were coming. They would be killed, Rae included. They would accuse him of aiding lions in their unholy duties. Kalandro knew this all too well. So, they took the only immediate option they had been given. They ran.


	11. Truth Revealed, Questions Answered

Shadowland

Chapter 11

Truth Revealed, Questions Answered

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way. The characters Simba, Nala, Mufasa, Sarabi, Kiara, Kovu, Zira, Vitani, Nuka, Sarafina, Zazu, Scar, Rafiki, Timon, Pumbaa, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed belong to Disney. Mohatu and Thembi belong to other people. All characters in this story, not mentioned here are my own creations.

Shadowland, Chapter 11: 'Truth Revealed, Questions Answered' is property of Troy Wong, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.

"**I see something special in Hezakiah. **

**The prophecy speaks of an unusual shaman- as the 'chosen one', that will be more powerful than any shaman before him. **

**I am confident that when I am gone, he will make a great difference here."**

-The Great Shaman Rafiki, of the Pridelands,

speaking of Hezakiah the Traitor.

_A long, long time ago in a land far away, lived two cubs whose names were Kiara and Hezakiah…_

_Kiara and Hezakiah had been best friends since they had first met. They lived in a medium sized lion pride, and in that pride lived two other cubs. _

_Those two cubs' names were Rex and Helix. Rex and Helix were twin brothers, who looked exactly the same. They were also friends with Hezakiah and Kiara. The two brothers loved to play tricks on the grown-ups of their family, especially their parents. They would trick them into thinking that one of them was the other in the duo, and vise versa. They never got tired of it._

_Being cubs and all, Kiara and Hezakiah's lives had been smooth for as long as they could remember. But awhile after they both turned five years old, their lives became very complicated. _

_Rafiki, the wise, and ecstatic shaman of maniacal wit that was a good friend of Kiara's father decided that Hezakiah had certain qualities that could be put to good use. He took Hezakiah away. Kiara became upset because of this, but no one else seemed to care. Not even her father, the King, Simba. _

_But she did not have much time to worry about that. Soon after Rafiki had left, a strange spirit attacked Pride Rock, which was the home of the lions. It had the power to control people, and it wreaked havoc. _

_At first, the King did not want to bother Rafiki, because he knew that what the shaman had taken Hezakiah away to do was very important. He thought that he and his pride could deal with the spirit by themselves. But they could not. Simba sent a messenger out immediately to contact Rafiki, and to tell him to return to Pride Rock to banish the spirit. He was the only one that could do it, because no one else knew how to._

_The messenger returned to the lions bearing Rafiki's word that he would be over by the next day to help. _

_The next day came, and he did not arrive. It passed, and still he did not come. _

_But it seemed that he was not needed. The spirit was not causing anymore trouble. It was gone. _

_For ten lion years, Kiara and Hezakiah did not see each other. Life went on, and the imprint that the mysterious spirit had made slowly disappeared, like a hole in the ground naturally covering itself back up. _

_Kiara's fifteenth birthday came. It was time for her first hunt by herself. Her father had always been very protective of her, and had always sent his two annoying friends too look after her in secret. She hoped that this time he would not do that, and allow her to get the job done by herself. _

_Kiara set off, and soon found that she was not a very good huntress at all. Whenever she got close enough to give chase, the antelope she had been stalking would hear her footsteps and her sounds. They would run off immediately, and she would not be able to catch them. _

_Evening drew closer. Kiara was about to begin pursuit yet another time, but she could feel something was wrong. She waited. Then she found out what it was. A fire had been intentionally started. It was all part of someone else's big plan. _

_The princess was nearly lost in the blaze. But she was saved just in time by someone that she had met before, and had not seen for many, many years. It was not Hezakiah, but an Outlander. His name was Kovu, and Kiara's father had also met him before. He had been banished from the Pridelands a long, long time ago. But now he was back. _

_That was only because of his mother, Zira. Zira had been the most faithful follower of Scar during his reign. As a result, she was exiled by Simba, the rightful king, when he made his return after his ten lion year absence. _

_Zira's plan was for him to charm Kiara, and so become accepted by the King. When Simba's back was turned, he would strike, and be rid of him. Then, the kingdom would be his. According to his mother, the kingdom was rightfully Scar's. He had believed this, too, but he had not heard the whole story of the evil ruler. _

_Kovu, at first, was not accepted by the King. Simba recognized him. He did not feel comfortable with an Outlander around. _

_But Kovu soon did complete the first phase of his plan. He had quickly won Kiara's heart. But, against Zira's plan, Kiara had won his heart, too. _

_One day, after Simba had learnt to accept Kovu into his pride, he took the Outlander for a walk, to the site of the bushfire. During the walk, the King told the newcomer the real, full story of Scar. Kovu now despised his mother for lying to him, and training him, all his life to do what he had left the Outlands to do._

_Then, everything went horribly wrong. Zira and her lionesses stepped out of the fog. It was an ambush. Simba immediately thought that Kovu had leaded him there on purpose. His trust had been lost again. Kovu was not able to help him. Simba escaped, and in doing so, he unintentionally killed one of Zira's sons, whose name was Nuka. _

_Zira was furious. She automatically blamed Kovu for the death of her son. _

_Simba was weakened. He barely made it back to Pride Rock, were he collapsed from exhaustion. _

_When Kovu returned to the home of the Pridelanders, begging for forgiveness, Simba was quick to give him exile yet another time. The people of the kingdom forced him out at horn-point._

_Kiara was devastated. She had lost another, just like she had lost Hezakiah, so, so long ago. She ran away. That night, she found Kovu, and convinced him to return to Pride Rock to set things straight. _

_Zira decided to wage war with the Pridelanders the next day. If she could not take the kingdom by wits and cunning, then she would take it by force. Both sides soon met at the battlefield. They began to march towards each other, and then they broke into a full run._

_As they fought, rain poured from the sky, flooding a dam that had been built in a certain canyon. _

_The two prides had been fighting for an hour when Kiara ad Kovu jumped in between them to stop the fighting. They explained that the two prides were both lions. They showed everyone else that it was foolish to fight someone that is on your own side. _

_Vitani, Zira's daughter, turned over to the Pridelanders' side. One by one, every single Outlander did the same. _

_But Zira would not. In her panic and rage, she leaped at the King, but was quickly tackled by Kiara. They claws at each other viciously, and rolled down to the canyon. The dam was so full of water that it burst, creating raging torrents down below. _

_Zira fell down the side of the cliff. While clinging on for dear life, Kiara offered to save her. The mother of Kovu stubbornly refused, losing grip and plunging into the waters below._

_All the lions returned to Pride Rock, as one. Simba, after seeing that Kovu really cared for Kiara, and was not using her, allowed the Outlander into his pride, with all the other outcasts. They were one. _

_Life settled down again, for about a week. Then, Hezakiah returned from his ten years of shaman training. That is what Rafiki had taken him away for. He was destined to be the next shaman of the Pridelands. Now, he was very powerful in that sense. If him and Rafiki were to face-off, they would both be even matches. _

_Against Rafiki's will, he quickly went back to Pride Rock for the first time in so very long. There, he met Kiara. They discovered that their friendship had not grown weaker at all. If anything, it was stronger. Hezakiah feared that Rafiki knew where he was, or would soon, so he left in a hurry after a quick talk. _

_The next time he saw Rafiki, he was given the task of capturing a strange spirit that had been attacking the many creatures of the savannah. Hezakiah did not know it, for he could not remember it, but Rafiki did. The old shaman knew that it was the same spirit that attacked the lions when Kiara and Hezakiah were still young. He knew that it would be a dangerous task. _

_So Hezakiah was given an assistant to help him. That assistant's name was Ket. Ket was a very skillful monkey. He had some knowledge of the magic that Rafiki so frequently used, and so could cast some minor spells himself. He was the perfect companion for the lion, on the quest that would consume one more year of his life. _

_One lion year was close to its end since Hezakiah had been sent away from Kiara another time. He and Ket had been tracking the spirit all over the kingdom, but had not yet succeeded in capturing and banishing it. His task brought him to the Elephant Graveyards soon enough. There, he met a hyena with a difference, named Drawtt. _

_Drawtt's parents had been killed by lions for entering the Pridelands when he was very young, just because they were starving and wanted food to feed him. Drawtt was not dirty, or unpleasant, or vulgar, like most others of his kind. In fact, he was a pleasure to be around. Upon meeting and talking to him, Hezakiah began to doubt the truth of Rafiki's constant ill-speaking of the hyenas. _

_Soon afterwards, Hezakiah encountered the spirit in the graveyards. After an exhausting battle, the otherworldly being was defeated, and destroyed. _

_Rafiki was soon alerted of the victory by none other than the lion of the hour and his trusty assistant. Hezakiah was hoping that he would now be able to see Kiara, but Rafiki did not allow it, for the shaman had seen something terrible in a prophetic dream, and wanted Hezakiah to keep away from her. To keep his apprentice occupied, he sent him on another mission. _

_But this time, Hezakiah did not obey. Without Rafiki knowing, he rebelled and headed speedily to pride Rock to meet Kiara. The two childhood friends then had the two best days of their lives as they did nothing but spend time with each other. _

_After those two days, Rafiki found out that Hezakiah had disobeyed him. He stormed to the lions' home, infuriated. Upon seeing his apprentice, Rafiki scolded him greatly. _

_Hezakiah was just as angry. His master had denied him the right to his best friend for eleven years of his life. Before Rafiki could do anything else, he disappeared; gone to the Elephant Graveyards he had been itching to do for a long time. Only Rafiki's words had kept him from aiding the hyena, Drawtt, but now, he simply did not care. _

_Drawtt was starving, so Hezakiah brought him food. He was thirsty, so Hezakiah lead him to safe water source. He was tired, so Hezakiah guarded him while he slept. He was sick, so Hezakiah cast a spell on him that got rid of his sickness._

_Rafiki had made the mistake of following after him. After a week, they met again, and fought; magic against magic. They fought for hours. They fought until they had moved from the caverns below the graveyard to a little known corner of the area, where cliffs were abundant and dangerously well hidden. _

_In that little known corner, the Great Shaman Rafiki of the Pridelands was defeated for the bad of things._

_Hezakiah stepped back and looked at what he had just done. He had killed his master, who had been like a father to him. In horror and extreme guilt, he ran back to the caverns, where Drawtt nervously waited. There, Hezakiah had a vision that revealed to him who killed the hyena's parents. He instantly remembered his first vision. His first vision that had told him the truth. _

_It told him that once, a long, long time ago, all animals lived in harmony, even hyenas, under the reign of the sovereign King Muroasha. Muroasha heard of a prosperous, sickness-free land, with endless food and water supplies, marked by a single green hill in its centre. He wanted to find it. _

_The hyenas would be the best for the job, so he set off with all of them to find the land. When things quickly went wrong, and they found themselves in a volcanic plain where the very air they breathed was hazardous to their health, Muroasha blamed it all on the hyenas, despite the fact that he had made most of the decisions when they had come to forks in the road, and when they had been in sticky situations. _

_The lion king escaped, leaving the hyenas for dead. When he arrived back in his land, he spread word that the hyenas were traitors and cowards. When the hyenas came back a month later, scarred and bruised, they were exiled with support from the mislead people, to the very land that they had come from; the land where elephant carcasses and skeletons had been disposed of for so long that there were mountains of them, everywhere. _

_The Elephant Graveyards. _

_Hezakiah was ashamed that he was a lion. The people of the Pridelands had been lied to for centuries. The hyenas were not traitors, or cowards, or anything of the sort. Lions were. _

_He told Drawtt that he would soon be back in his rightful land. Hezakiah tore apart the Pridelands with powerful magic, forcing the lions and almost all the other animals away. But in his anger, he had forced the hyenas further north, too. _

_On that shameful day, the Great Kings of the Past turned their backs in disgrace, on the holy land they had passed down to their sons and daughter for centuries. _

_The choking lava covered the land like a slow moving tide, covering and consuming everything. It covered the Waterhole. It burnt up the trees. It smoothened out any hills or small cliffs that were about the land. And it, in combination with the earthquakes, it caused Pride Rock to collapse. The landmark would later come to be known by the hyenas as Lava Den. _

_The lions and all other animals fled to the east, to a small valley, with a reliable water supply, and much sunlight. That valley became to be known as the Amber Valley. _

_The caverns below the graveyards that Hezakiah had called his home for the past few days collapsed on him. His spirit was trapped there, cursed to dwell the land forever, until released or banished. _

_After years, the hyenas made their way back to the former Pridelands. Now, it was a barren, leafless, wasteland. But water and food had returned. _

_Unfortunately for them, evil forces were still at work in the kingdom. A spirit had enslaved ten mandrills, brainwashed them, and rebuilt them to enslave the hyenas upon their return. Somehow, the spirit knew that the hyenas were coming back. _

_For centuries, life went on, and on. Amber Valley flourished. Although its creatures could not afford to waste food, they got by quite easily, and that was all they needed. On the other hand, the hyenas in the Pridelands grew weaker, and thinner with every generation. They were denied food when they were hungry. Instead, they were only given just as much as they needed to survive. No more than that. _

_The Pridelands lost its pride. Its ground cracked up as the water was drawn from it. It never rained. The grass stopped growing. The trees died. It was the Pridelands no longer. It was a tear stained, dry land. It was Shadowland. _

_The Circle of Life was lost… _

**xxx **

There was no doubt that the four had fled as soon as they could. And there was no doubt that they did not make much noise at all. But the people that they were running from had noticed them so quickly that it was uncanny.

Sapphire did not want to look back. She did not want to see the grim, menacing faces of the mandrills again. She did not want to see them chasing after here. She did not want to see them raising their hands to the sky and casting their spells to ensure that she and the four fugitives with her would suffer a long, painful death, as Kalandro had explained. That hyena had made her just as fearful as he was. Or was it paranoia?

She just closed her eyes and prepared to face her doom, as she imagined the three that were running on both sides of her were doing as well. She waited while she ran, and her breaths became sharp and fast. She waited as the air that was constantly traveling in and out of her windpipe dried her throat, and it grew sore and rasping.

But nothing happened.

So, against all of her previous judgment and decisions, she turned back. But she did not see the mandrills casting their spells to destroy them, or anything of the sort. One of them was looking directly at her, but he was squinting, and doing nothing else.

She wondered why, until she heard the distant voice of another mandrill, coming from Lava Den, saying, "Do you see anything?"

The navy blue baboon turned back and replied, "No. There is nothing." He was not lying. He could not see them.

The four of them escaped that time. It had become apparent that something of great power was watching over them, and protecting them. The very thought of that sent tingles down her spine.

When they reached Utopia River, they explained everything to Rae, who quickly understood their predicament. He agreed to help them. He was now the new pack leader, who everyone loved. He was sure that he could go back in secret, and, one by one, convince the other hyenas that Sapphire and Coyle were wild dogs, and not lions.

And the next day, he did. They began to plan to overthrow the tyrants. Rae and Kalandro both acted as messengers, darting back and forth to deliver messages to both the hyenas, and 'wild dogs', for it was too risky and dangerous for Sapphire and Coyle to go to Lava Den, as well as for the hyenas going to Utopia River all together.

That night, when Sapphire looked up to the sky, she saw something that she had never seen before. It was like a bright gem, shining amongst the clouds, assisting the moon in shedding its light. She concluded, just before she nodded off the sleep, that it was just a firefly that was hovering in the air. It would fly away soon; doing whatever else it had to do.

But that was far from it. It was the first star to appear in both the Amber Valley's, and Shadowland's sky for hundreds of years. The Great Kings of the Past were turning back.

**xxx **

By nightfall, back in Amber Valley, the lions had gathered just two other forces to help them; Maloumba's tribe of elephants, and a small community of rhinoceroses that lived to the southwest of their Den. It seemed that they could only ally with those that did not fear that they would get eaten, so they planned to send the elephants and rhinoceroses out to get more allies the next day.

They had approached the meerkats, who quickly ducked into their tunnels to hide, not giving them a chance to reason with them. They had approached the wildebeests that had turned and run, thinking that it was yet another hunt. They had approached the antelopes, zebras and many other herd animals which had done the same thing. The hippopotami would not listen, nor would the crocodiles, that swam in Utopia Lake, formed by Utopia Falls. Wild dogs had barked and chased them away, and the one leopard that they found just ignored them, and stayed up in his tree.

Torres already knew of their newest plans. But he did not care. He believed that he was so powerful, in fact, that however many joined forces against him, he would not fall. He waited patiently in the Dark Lands, by the Abyss. He waited for his lord to return; the spirit of the canyon, and he waited until his pride thought that they were strong enough to face him.

It would not be long.


	12. The Rise

Shadowland

Chapter 12

The Rise

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way. The characters Simba, Nala, Mufasa, Sarabi, Kiara, Kovu, Zira, Vitani, Nuka, Sarafina, Zazu, Scar, Rafiki, Timon, Pumbaa, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed belong to Disney. Mohatu and Thembi belong to other people. All characters in this story, not mentioned here are my own creations.

Shadowland, Chapter 12: 'The Rise' is property of Troy Wong, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.

"**So prepare for the chance of a lifetime. **

**Be prepared for sensational news.**

**A shining new era is tiptoeing nearer. **

… **Be prepared." **

-Scar the Deceiver,

Evil Brother of King Mufasa the Great.

Two more days had come and gone. The Amber Resistance, as it had come to be known, had gathered and united almost the entire valley. It was an amazing, surreal sight to look upon them, gathered around each other. Antelope stood by lion. Zebra stood by elephant. Crocodile lay by hippopotamus. They had learnt to put aside their stomachs and fears, for once.

When their cause was explained to all the creatures, great and small, there were few who could refuse.

One of these was the only leopard the rhinoceroses had come across. He had already ignored the lions with 'silent dignity', as he called it, and didn't go much further for the next ones that came to him.

"Why should I, Diego the mighty leopard, help anyone else?"

"Well, because it's for the good of the valley."

"What if I don't care about the valley?"

"You don't care about the valley?

"You care about the valley?"

The Mesa meerkats also did not join the Resistance. They had hid when the lions approached them, and they had run when the elephants did. Whoever was sent to chase them down, whether they were birds, or antelope, or giraffe, or cheetah, the rodents simply hid themselves away in fear.

The wild dogs were slightly different in their behaviour. They reluctantly agreed to help the lions at first, but when they saw that the crocodiles and hippopotami had joined, the creatures that had been preventing them from drinking the clean and conveniently close water of Utopia Lake for as long as they could remember, they withdrew their statements and went home.

There were several others that had not joined, but that was simply because they could not be located in the large area.

The Amber Resistance now had more than four hundred strong; over a hundred wildebeests that were a tiny herd compared to others of their kind in distant lands, sixty-two giraffes of seven different traveling groups and fifty-one antelopes, seventy-six zebras, also a small group. As well as that, there were nineteen hippopotami, three rhinoceroses, sixteen elephants, twenty-five crocodiles, one mandrill, eighteen monkeys, countless birds and reptiles, and a handful of others.

Among these, there were five seers, two shamans and four witch doctors. Surely Torres could not win, now.

In Shadowland, the plans and arrangements had been settled. A war had been brewed, and the next day, at midnight, it would begin. One hundred and twenty-three hyenas, with the aid of two lions would soon battle ten powerful mandrill shamans.

However, the hyenas were about to receive one more soldier to fight for them. None of them knew it, including the lions. Neither did their cruel masters. This person would seek Sapphire late one night, and as a result, she would receive the shock of her life.

**xxx **

_Fighting, fighting. The sound of roaring and barking echoes everywhere. The sound of timber against flesh will not stop. Cries of agony mixed with screams of triumph surround all._

_Fighting the battle against the tyrants- me; Sapphire, Coyle, Kalandro, Rae, and Orion, slaying one as I turn and catch a glimpse of him. _

_And Orion? _

"_Orion!" _

Sapphire stirred from her sleep. Her eyelids gently slid open into slits, then full, wide circles. Trying as hard as she could not to make any noise, not to wake up the others, she got herself into a sitting position and looked around herself. To her right, lay Coyle, sleeping soundly. A couple a metres in front of her slept Rae and Kalandro, both resting deathly still.

Sapphire let out a muffled cry. For a moment, she could have sworn that she saw blood pouring from open wounds in their sides. But it was just another trick that her eyes had played on her. On closer inspection, they were indeed breathing- just very faintly.

She realised that she was panting. Then she remembered that she had been having a strange, almost nightmarish dream before she woke up. That was why.

Then, she remembered the dream she had, back in the small cave in the Grey Mountains, and many times before and after that. They had been happening less and less frequently lately, but she still saw them clearly.

"_Who are you?" she shouted at the thing that stood in front of her. Her voice echoed in a surreal way as it shot like a bullet through the air, out into the distance. The sky flashed white again, like the brightest bolt of lightning you've ever seen, though no sound came. That shadowy being in front of Sapphire grinned an evil grin. Its teeth were so white that she could hardly open her eyes while looking at them. She had trouble even facing them. _

"_The question is not who I am, dear Sapphire…" it replied after what seemed like an eternity. "… The question is when I'll strike, and what I'll do…" the shadowy figure laughed as the storm angered again, rain pouring down, thunder and lightning booming, and gales sweeping in from all directions, or did the storm anger as the thing laughed?_

_For some strange reason, Sapphire was momentarily blinded. Not by a bolt of lightning, but instantly, seemingly caused by nothing. During those few long seconds was she most terrified, for what she heard was beyond explanation. What she heard was terror at its purest, and that cannot be described using words._

_When she regained her vision, she found that the thing once standing in front of her was gone. "Where are you?" she called out, her tone of voice easily revealing her state of mind: petrified. _

"_I'm right beside you." That creature's voice boomed back at her. Before she could turn to her side to see it glaring down at her, the shadow struck her down, then grabbed her, and threw her over the cliff, into the gorge, down below, falling, falling, falling down into the eternal darkness._

She jolted slightly at the unpleasant memory of it all.

Sapphire knew very well, without even trying, that she would not be able to get back to sleep anytime soon. So she rose to her feet and scanned the landscape, trying to decide where she would go.

"I'll walk up the river." she breathed to herself, as she began to stroll away.

The serene flowing noises of the river did a great deal to soothe her as she wandered up north, using it as a path. After ten minutes it had done its work- she was tired enough to return to her sleep now, but there was the problem of the long walk back downstream. Her head was heavy. Most of her wanted to set down right there and doze off peacefully, but a smaller, safer, smarter part of her made her realise that the land she was taking refuge in was a foreign land, and if any danger were to arise, she would not have anyone to help her fight it off.

Shaking her head vigorously, as if to get rid of the fatigue, she turned and began to make her way back down to where her three companions were.

Then, she heard a voice calling her name. It was soft and welcoming, like the sight of a cottage in the woods that you could rest in, after days of sleepless traveling. Just like a cottage, it called her closer. Not only that, but it was familiar, too. So familiar that at first, she thought it was Coyle. But, of course, it was not. She was too tired to think for herself who it really was.

So she looked for its source. Casting away her better judgment to return to Coyle, she began to search. She looked everywhere around her, in the wake of every boulder, in every ditch, and behind every tree. She rummaged around for it for an hour, and at times, she felt she would collapse from exhaustion. But she went on. Why was this so important to her? She did not know. She knew only of what she was doing, there and then.

At last, she came to a great tree of titanic proportions. The tree grew no leaves; all it had were a mass of naked branches at its top. The boughs were like curious, slithering snakes that were making their way away from the trunk.

She reached the base, the voice still calling her, piercing her mind. She took a moment to amble up one of the huge roots that belonged to the tree, bulging out for the ground. Closer now, she could see that the trunk was smooth and pleasant to touch. Looking up from where she was, the branches above were of so many that they almost looked like a patterned ceiling.

Then, she realised that she had seen a tree like this before. It was unrecognizable, until now, because it had no leaves. But there was one just like it back in Amber Valley, by Ivory Cliff.

It was a mighty baobab tree.

The voice grew louder. It was coming closer. She felt something tap her on the shoulder, and with a shriek, she fell off the root she stood on, onto the ground, on her back.

Fizzles, sparkles and stars filled her eyes for a moment. She heard the voice calling her name again. Now it was much clearer. 'It must be right above me!' she thought to herself, with a sense of panic. She blinked, and blinked again. Only then did her vision return to her.

Standing tall above her, looking down on her face, was Orion.

**xxx **

Daeon woke suddenly to the sounds of yelling and screaming as he felt himself being thrown to the ground by invisible forces. Rolling to his back with a moan, straining to see through the dark, he finally distinguished Torres' face above him, twisted into a vile grimace. He saw the lion's arm hovering up in the air, claws at the ready, about to strike.

Then he heard a roar of rage. Before he knew it, Torres was off him, and on the ground, tackled down by Ryun. Daeon got up quickly. He saw everyone, the whole resistance, standing around them in a huge circle. Torres was trapped inside.

He also saw the more important matter that Ryun was struggling to keep his attacker down. He ran over to help her, roaring as she had done to intimidate the enemy, pouncing onto Torres and landing with a thud.

"No, Daeon! Stay away! He is dangerous!" he heard Ryun scream. But he ignored her warning. This person had to be dealt with.

Why was no one else helping? And, furthermore, why were some of them backing away? Had they an army of cowards on their hands?

Ryun was tossed heavily to the ground, and was Daeon. Torres growled in triumph. Daeon struggled to get up. As he tried to move both his right limbs, he felt a sharp, internal pain. He could not get up. The agony was too great. All he could do was turn to see Ryun, laying there, doing nothing but breathing weakly, as the tyrant strode triumphantly over to her.

Out of the crowd ran a young wildebeest. As she escaped from the circle to join the fray, friends and family members called her name, 'Kyomaraju', in protest of her risky decision, but she did not change her mind.

"Stop!" she boomed, in a surprisingly loud voice.

Torres halted at the sound, and turned to face her. He smiled maliciously as the thought of killing a child entered his mind. "What would a feeble wildebeest child like you have that would stop me in my tracks?" he asked scornfully, as he carefully observed the limp that Kyomaraju sported in one of her hind legs as she walked forward.

She said nothing. She just approached him steadily and bravely.

Torres focused on her with his magic. At any moment, winds would blow in from behind him, sweeping her up, off her feet, back to where she came from. But as seconds wasted, nothing happened. He looked at her face. It showed her toil. To his unpleasant surprise, the tyrant realised that the girl was countering his own spell. Nothing was happening. And both of them pressed on.

**xxx **

"Orion?" exclaimed Sapphire in disbelief.

Orion nodded solemnly and smiled gently. "Did you miss me?"

Sapphire got up and stared at him, eyes wide open, mouth gaping. "But… But you're dead! I saw you! You were crushed in the caves!"

The lion seemed to cringe a little at the thought. "I know." he replied at last. "But I met someone… Or rather, 'something' that gave me life."

"What?"

"A lion. His face appeared to me while I was falling. He-" answered Orion, casually.

"While you were falling?" Sapphire broke in. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I was just falling. Then he appeared to me, and said that he could save me if I did him a few favours."

"So you accepted…?"

"Hey, I'm standing here in front of you, aren't I?"

Sapphire was about to say something in return, but then, with a look of horror, she remembered something she had seen on her first day in Shadowland.

_He glanced at her for silence, looking squarely at the walls behind him. Upon one of the walls stood a shadowy figure. Sapphire turned to look at it as well. The moment she laid eyes on it, she felt a sense of comfort, as well as a chill. What was this thing? _

_It sent shivers down her spine. Then it ducked down behind the stones and disappeared. The two lions turned away, not knowing what to expect next. _

_They had not walked for a minute into Shadowland before the ground began to shake furiously and abruptly. Towering fortifications began to; quite literally, disintegrate into sand that poured down into the path, which began to fill up like a puddle trying to manage a whole lake of water. _

_Sapphire stared at the dust as it plunged to the ground dangerously close to her in large portions. Her eyes grew large with fear. _

"How did you enter this land, Orion?" she questioned.

Orion opened his mouth to answer, but no words came out. He paused for a moment with a puzzled look on his face. Then he answered, "I can't remember."

With those three words, everything fell into place. Sapphire remembered an image that she had seen moments after the walls of Shadowland were collapsing.

_She turned back one last time, to the entrance. Deep inside, she knew that this passage would be closed to her forever. She could no longer return._

_And she spotted something else, too. Standing atop some elevated, natural tower, she saw a lion with eyes glowing red like frenzying fires. One moment passed, before finally taking after Coyle, and running. _

"Hey, what's with the look?" he asked, seeing that Sapphire suddenly didn't look too comfortable in his company. "Am I scaring you?"

Sapphire shook her head from side to side. "No. It's just that…"

"Yes?"

"No, nothing. Don't worry."

Orion waited for a moment. "Alright then." He walked around Sapphire, observing the tree, observing his surroundings. "Where have you been? What've you been doing?"

"I've been sleeping by the river with Coyle and two others that I came across in this land." she replied.

"Alright then."

"But there is something you don't know about. There's going to be a war at that rock tomorrow, at midnight." she told him, facing Lava Den in the distance. "This land is dangerous. We have to be careful here…"

"A war?" asked Orion disbelievingly, yet somewhat excited.

Sapphire nodded. "Coyle and I are leading it."

"What? I take my eyes of you for five minutes and-"

"You don't understand. These creatures that live in this land have cruel masters that starve them of food and keep them from drinking water. That's who we're fighting. We're fighting for their freedom." she explained.

"I see…" he replied, soaking up everything that had just been said like a sponge soaking up water. "So, I guess I've gotta help you."

"Help me what?"

"Help you fight the war, Sapphire."

Sapphire didn't know what to say. She was worried about this 'spirit' that Orion had told her about. It was the spirit that had corrupted Torres. It was the spirit that had possessed the bird, causing the earthquake on the stone path. Now it was out to get Orion. And it was inside him at that very moment, living off him like he was its vessel. She just nodded and tried to smile.

"We should get back to that river you told me of. You look tired. I know I am."

How surprised Coyle would be when he saw Orion the next morning. How surprised indeed.

**xxx**

With a yell, the magic pressure increased. Kyo's grip weakened. Breezes came at first, but then winds, and gales. Kyo fought hard to withstand it all, all the while, with screams and gasps coming from behind her. Seeing her like that pleased Torres. He laughed an evil laugh.

Just as Kyo was about to be quite literally, blown away, she felt the winds weakening after a loud cry from a familiar voice. It was the witch doctor of her herd. He was helping her. The thought of that strengthened her. She pressed on as the gales grew softer and softer.

If that was all that Torres had to offer, then they had already won. But that was far from it. With another of his roars, the clouds above them broke and rain came pouring down. Thunder and lightning crashed. The two magical folk could not counter this spell, however hard they tried. Bolts of lightning struck inside the circle of animals. The bolts were chasing Kyo and the witch doctor away.

But then, the storm held back some. A shaman had stepped in- a mandrill with two staffs. The weapons were fused with all sorts of stones and natural objects. Most were for decoration, but some had a purpose, like the thorns that stuck out of them, and the rocks that gave the staffs weight and body.

The baboon was frowning furiously, shouting out words that nobody there understood. But it was helping.

Then, suddenly, out of the circle stepped magic wielders of all shape, size and kind. They all followed the first three's example. Torres faltered. A bead of sweat grew fat and rolled down his face. He was stressing.

The Resistance thought they were winning for one brief moment, but they were wrong. With a shout, a wave of ghostly black light came from Torres himself. It expanded like a ring, and pushed all the shamans, witch doctors and seers back. They yelled with pain. Some were blown away by the force, landing heavily. Others simply collapsed on the spot, exhausted from the effort. Even the shaman with the two staffs could not go on.

Torres fell to the ground as well, but unlike all the others, he moved, straightened his back, and got back up. Clearly, he had somehow increased his control from 'minor abilities' to 'incredible powers'.

The Amber Resistance was in trouble. All their magicians were gone.

"**They will plan to break loose from the grasp of their evil leaders, in a war that will last just one night, but will have a huge influence on the fate of the Circle of Life. And on this night, their cries of sorrow will turn to screams of rage. Their tears will become raging, torrential rivers that will show no mercy, and their blood, drawn from their tyrants' weapons will summon storms a hundred times worse than those of that seen in The Fall. They will yell their warcries, they will stampede, they will knock down the walls that have always been their boundaries, and they will crush and destroy the tyrants. In this battle, Sapphire of the Night, Orion the Brave, and Coyle; Second Shaman of Claw will lead them." **

-4th part of the 283rd prophecy of the Great Shaman Metutu, during the reign of

King Mohatu; Greatest and Highest King That Ever Ruled.


	13. Only War

Shadowland

Chapter 13

Only War

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way. The characters Simba, Nala, Mufasa, Sarabi, Kiara, Kovu, Zira, Vitani, Nuka, Sarafina, Zazu, Scar, Rafiki, Timon, Pumbaa, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed belong to Disney. Mohatu and Thembi belong to other people. All characters in this story, not mentioned here are my own creations.

Shadowland, Chapter 13: 'Only War' is property of Troy Wong, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.

"…**And on this night, their cries of sorrow will turn to screams of rage. Their tears will become raging, torrential rivers that will show no mercy, and their blood, drawn from their tyrants' weapons will summon storms a hundred times worse than those of that seen in The Fall…"**

-Extract from the 4th part of the 283rd prophecy of the Great Shaman Metutu, during the reign of

King Mohatu; Greatest and Highest King That Ever Ruled.

The Amber Valley Resistance had seen Torres walking carelessly back from the Dark Lands. They had seen him as he spotted them, too, in the dark of the night; as he charged towards them, as he began to yell and scream in other languages that they had no knowledge of.

They had seen his undoubtedly newfound power, and they had been afraid. That was why they did not lend their strength when Daeon was thrown to the round, or when Ryun was in full-contact combat with Torres, and losing.

Now that those two lions had been temporarily disabled, partly thanks to the Resistance's foolish reluctance- one knocked out and unconscious; the other suffering from too much pain to move, Torres had the upper hand. Not only that, but he had also done the same to the magically gifted ones of the alliance as he had done to the two lions mentioned earlier. Now there was no one to restrain his dreadful enchantments.

There was only brute force.

Now, the Resistance did not care for their own safety, as individuals. They had realised that if they did not take the chance offered to them, and try to win the fight now, they would never get that same type of chance again.

The animals shouted their warcries, and charged at Torres with all their might.

The antelopes were first to do so, making huge, graceful, bounding leaps towards their target. Torres somehow dodged most of them. As for those that he could not so easily evade as he did with the others, he charged them, catching them in mid air, then ramming them into the ground with the strength of a rhinoceros.

Mixed with those jumping creatures was the vast herd of wildebeests. Like a potent wave crashing onto a shoreline, they were upon Torres, charging, leaping, and running at him. But they were all dodged- overshooting. They met with the antelopes behind Torres, swerving around to face him again, ready to run back. They were furious at what that cruel being had done to their witch doctor, and their young Kyomaraju. Their need of revenge had beaten their fear.

When the next wave of animals came, Torres renewed the power of the storm he had brought on earlier, and pushed all of them back with strong winds and stinging rain that fell sideward towards them. Everyone but the wicked lion was being forced backwards, in fact. It seemed that the wind and rain was coming down, the greatest concentration of it all on Torres. Then, just before the natural forces would hit the one that brought them, they would swerve up so that they did not touch him, or the ground- instead, unleashing their fury onto the enemies of the demonically challenged one.

Nobody on the Resistances' side could move forwards, only back, back, giving Torres more room, losing their ground. They were of hundreds, and Torres was but one. Yet, they were fighting a losing battle.

The seconds grew longer and longer as, one by one, each of Torres' potential opponents lost hope.

Suddenly an enormous bull elephant burst out of the mass of smaller herd animals behind Torres, cutting though the wind with frightful ease, trying to take him by surprise. But Torres turned around just in time, and laughed repugnantly as they collided into each other, making a sound similar to that of one million wildebeests stampeding into a wall.

The Resistance stood well back and watched with hope as the two wrestled furiously with each other, testing their strength. While Maloumba's face began to show his great strain, Torres was smiling a corrupt, beastly smile. They all wanted so badly for them to be able to help, but they knew that if they did, they would be crushed when one of the two in battle fell.

Without warning, Maloumba let out a trumpet with a bellow, and forced Torres over onto the ground. The lion landed with a pleasing 'smack' sound, whereas Maloumba's feet smashed back into the ground with a crash. The large elephant made his way over to the enemy, who was now bleeding out of his mouth, and kicked his front legs up in the air like a stallion, ready to crush him underfoot.

But with ten times more velocity as Maloumba had charged out of the crowd, Torres got to his feet and struck the elephant in the chest. Maloumba yelled, taken by surprise as he was toppled over onto his back. The crowd gasped and shrieked at the sight.

And in a second, Torres was upon him, bellowing wrathfully. Vast bolts of black and purple lightning appeared out of nowhere and struck Maloumba all over. He roared in anguish as the dark bars pierced him in a way that did not create wounds. The screams of all members of his herd, particularly Charlotte's, could be heard clearly.

Again Torres laughed, but much harder this time, like an uncontrollable fit. He had been driven mad by something- most likely the spirit that dwelled in the Dark Lands. After he had licked away the blood dripping from his chin and vainly inspected his claws, the gloomy energy blots disappeared, leaving their victim lying alarmingly still.

Charlotte ran out of the crowd to her father's side, quickly followed by her mother who was obviously worried about her safety. The little girl dropped down to her knees as she reached her beloved father. She began to call him and nudge to him to make him wake, but no signs of life came from him.

"Charlotte! No!" called her mother, running towards her, and then stepping in between her daughter and Torres.

Torres' eyes gleamed and he smiled another one of his horrible smiles as he took a step forward. His mouth had begun to bleed again without him knowing. "What's this? A whole family that has been able to walk against my magical winds? Ha!" he laughed with delight. "How foolish your daughter is, for running out here unprotected- and how foolish you are, running out after her to give her protection!"

A tear left the wise old woman's eye as she glanced at her dead love. A piece of her died at that moment, too. But she forced herself to speak. "You, Torres, are a beast!" she yelled. "I remember the days when you were a good leader! We all do! What made you change?"

Abruptly, Charlotte's sorrowing sobs filled the background more than anything else as she realised the truth. It was the truth that her father had died.

That question loosened Torres' control over the storm. But just when everyone else thought they could rush forward to the elephants' aid, more of the dark lightning crashed right in front of them, exactly the same as the horrible energies that had killed Charlotte's father. They stopped immediately with a scream that showed they had been startled.

"I saw my pride for what they were- idiots! They were weak fools, and they were dragging me down… A burden I did not need! Now I rely only on my lord, and nobody relies on me! I more powerful than I have ever been!" he answered.

Before Charlotte's mother could reply, or even open her mouth, Torres had silently called forth more lightning, and targeted her. Instead of words came terrible screams. Charlotte shrieked in horror and looked as if she was about to run to her mother, but she did not. She must have reasoned with herself- told herself not to.

In moments, it was over for her mother, as well. The little elephant's eyes filled with tears as she began crying outwardly. She was no longer trying to hide her feelings, which, despite her efforts, the others already knew about. At the same time, her tribe, which she now owned- although, of course, that was not the first thing that came into her mind at the time- shouted out in rage and grief.

Then, Torres turned his gaze to the tiny being standing in front of him, and walked towards it. Charlotte seemed to shrink as that lion approached her, teeth bared, blood dripping from his chin and claws. "So, I child I have here!" he began.

"What made you think that you could face me, child?" he boomed. "Or did you just want to confirm the death of your father? … Trust me, that brute could never have escaped my wrath, nor could your mother. You will be no different, once I set my powers upon you! I will enjoy seeing your tears flow even faster than they are now, as you squirm…" Torres began to inch towards the helpless girl, lost for words and frozen by fear. "Your muscles will cramp and burn all at the same time. Your head will throb, and you will feel like it is about to explode! Then, then comes the-ARGH!" yelled the lion in pain.

"Shut your mouth you idiot lion!" yelled another strong voice that was easily as loud.

It was a leopard that had struck Torres, and clawed him down the spine. He had moved so quickly that even Charlotte, directly facing the place that Torres' attacker had came from, did not see him until he had spoken.

Before Torres could move, the leopard struck again and again, slashing, kicking, and biting mercilessly as his victim cringed dramatically, shouting, screaming, roaring in his agony as his blood trickled out of him like water in a fountain.

The thunder and lightning stopped. The storm calmed. The circle of animals was no longer held back. Torres could not have held it any longer. Suddenly, there was nothing but the sound of Diego's muscle against Torres' body.

The sun began to peek over the clouds.

And a cheer. A call. Then two. Three, four, ten, sixty, over a hundred. So many joined in until everyone was cheering Diego on, shouting praises, and booing Torres, cursing against the lion. Diego had never heard this sort of thing before. He had always believed in himself, and no one else. But as he did hear the cheers, he was filled with new strength. And in his attacks, he did not stop.

Charlotte watched closely, still in shock, as Diego the leopard forced Torres back, step by step. Then, as the lion's mouth opened, she gasped in fear. She knew that Torres was about to attack his attacker with more of the lightning, and that the leopard would fall, just like her mother and father had- just like the shamans, witch doctors and seers had. Just like so many others.

But with a deep, sharp growl, Diego struck Torres' jaw, closing it shut, and even causing some snapping and cracking sounds to come from it; breaking it.

"One way or another, you will not shame the name of leopards by casting one of your stupid spells on me!"

Torres struggled from the leopard's grip and tried to run, but stumbling, tripping and falling after a second. He did not look so powerful now. He was trembling in fear. But he got up, and ran away, trying to break the circle.

The elephants would not let him pass. When he went to the antelopes, they stomped and kicked at him. And what would his lions and lionesses do when he begged for passage through them.

Gharah eyed him disdainfully for a moment, looking at his hopeful, fearful eye, and the other which had swelled shut- looking at the blood disgustingly pouring from his body. Slowly she with all eyes on her, she lifted an arm, and struck him across the face so hard that he fell to the ground.

Painfully he lifted himself up and leaped at Gharah who did not do so much as blink. But he did not reach her. Diego had grabbed him and tossed him onto the ground, further away from the lioness. But somehow, Torres managed to get himself back up. Now he was leaping at Diego.

But he stopped a centimeter away. The crowd gasped in horror. Torres fell to the floor.

Without any hesitation whatsoever, Diego had ripped out his throat.

**xxx **

_Hear me, Coyle; Second Shaman of Claw. Hear my call. Hear my plight. _

"Who are you? Are you the voice that I heard in the caves?"

_That one is gone for good, now. You are free. He can no longer bother you. _

"What about you? Aren't you just like him?"

_No. I am not inside of you, Coyle. I am simply speaking to you through your thoughts… I see that the thought is hard to understand. But bear with me. I know that you are fighting a war tonight. I know who you are fighting. And I know that you will win, if you just do one thing…_

"Tell me. I can do it for you. Please."

_At the back of the main terrace of Lava Den lies a large boulder. Observing this boulder carefully, you will see that it resembles the face of a mandrill. _

"Yes. What about the stone?"

_Destroy it- at all costs_

"But how? And why?"

_I promise you, that if you destroy that stone, you will win the battle. And how? I can give you powers… They will stay with you forever. But you must be careful with them. You will not want to end up like-_

"Hezakiah the Traitor."

_What?_ _… How do you know of that name?_

"It came to me in a dream."

_You know of his betrayal? You know of Kiara, and Simba, and Rafiki?_

"All those names are familiar to me."

_Good. Very good. Now go. You have been empowered. Remember- destroy the boulder._

**xxx **

Four shadows had crept to lava den in the night. They had planned with others there for this for days. They crept up the side of the structure, spying on their enemies, waiting for the right time to spring the attack. All of their allies were there. They were all ready. They all had the matter on their mind. That was what lost them the element of surprise.

Somehow, the mandrills knew of the plan. It was as if they could read minds. So many minds thinking of the same thing at once, all so anxious. It was just as secretive as screaming detailed versions of their arrangements out when standing metres away from the shamans.

The mandrills attacked right away. At that time, they had the high ground. They had the better position. And they had the upper hand. They still did.

The three that hid beside Coyle had leaped out of cover without any hesitation. Of course, Coyle did the same.

And in seconds, they were fighting, slashing, cutting, biting- fighting, slashing, cutting and biting the air. As fast as they went, and as accurate as they could be, they could not lay a paw on the quick moving shamans. They moved so fast in fact, that at some points in the skirmish, they could not been seen.

In just ten minutes, the hyenas had gained fifteen casualties, despite the fact that they had started out with twelve against one. Just like the Amber Resistance had been, they were fighting a losing battle.

Coyle lunged forward and missed again. The shaman's staff that had proven to be dangerous cut through the air precariously close to his face. Coyle had dodged it by inches. Then, a hyena fighting alongside him had run forward as he did, and copped the full impact of the blow. As a result, that unlucky one was knocked off the hazardously placed ledge right behind him. This mandrill was forcing them backwards, step by step, off the edge.

And it just so happened that it was the opposite side of the rock that the voice in Coyle's dream had spoken of- the side that the giant boulder sat on- the face shaped boulder that he had to destroy.

But Coyle had classified it as a dream, and a dream only. Though he did remember it very well. And there was, actually, a face shaped rock across the platform. It resembled a mandrill with his mouth open, shouting. It looked like the sculpture was angry, or in pain.

An empty black ball flew out of the shaman's hand, impacting the hyena on Coyle's right hand side. In place of a scream of pain, the solider just made a choking sound, and fell to the ground.

_Use your powers._

Another ball appeared. This time it was soaring towards Coyle. He ducked just in time, and the sphere flew right over him. He was about to charge forward again, when something told him to turn around. When he did, he saw the orb coming back to him, with more speed than before. Again, he ducked just in time. It smashed into the rock in front of him, pulling the stone inwards, crushing it, and sending splinters everywhere. The mandrill performed a back flip to avoid the flying stones, and started to wave his staff around as to keep them from hitting his body.

_Go! Now!_

Coyle took the chance. He gave a yell for those fighting the same opponent as he was to follow his actions. Then he charged forward. But just when they thought they were going to injure someone, they felt themselves being pushed away. Then they saw the shaman's palm held out. They saw his lips moving rapidly. They were the 'invisible hands' that Kalandro had told them of.

_Why do you ignore me? Destroy the stone!_

Coyle could ignore the voice no longer. He had convinced himself that he had no magical abilities whatsoever along his journey, but he head also convinced himself that he was not going to win the fight if some miracle did not take place.

He focused greatly on the rock ahead of him, telling himself that it would shatter, telling himself that it would break. But nothing happened. And at that moment, he felt the shaman's staff striking him across the face. He fell onto his back, hitting the ground with a thud. His head was spinning, and soon, he could taste blood.

He heard Sapphire's voice, crying out of pain. Then he heard Orion- who had surprised him greatly upon his unexpected return- doing to same as Sapphire. They had been struck, just as he had. What a strange coincidence it was. Or perhaps it was nothing of the sort.

Then he heard Orion continue to groan in pain, and then a shout at the same time as a roar. Coyle forced himself to get back up. The fight that he had been leading had moved somewhere else, past him. He turned to Orion, worried that he would see something terrible. And he did. It just wasn't what he had expected.

Orion's eyes were glowing an eerie bright red. His mane had exploded into a huge, rippling black wave, and he appeared to be bigger and stronger than he was. Orion roared again. The hyenas around him began to fall, screaming in agony.

"What is wrong with him?" thought Coyle out loud, watching on. Orion turned to Sapphire, still on the ground. He stalked up to her and leaped, seizing her in his grip. Suddenly he was tearing and biting at her, and she was yelling for mercy. Coyle was horrified at this. He had to stop it.

So he ran at Orion and rammed him onto the ground. "What are you doing?" he questioned in shock.

In another, unfamiliar, sinister voice, Orion shouted back, "Get off me, you fool! Or you will fall at my hands, too!" before Coyle felt himself floating up into the air, off Orion, who seemed to be possessed by a demon.

'It's one of the shamans! He's going to throw me off the edge!' he realised in terror. But before anything more could happen, he was roughly dropped back down. Orion was attacking the shaman that had been holding Coyle up- and he was winning. But as a hyena rushed to his side to help, he turned on his fellow fighter, and with invisible hands, just like the mandrills had used, the hyena was thrown off the edge of the rock.

Something was wrong. Orion was crazy. He was turning on his own allies. They did not need any more casualties than they already had. Coyle resolved that he had to break the boulder. He rushed towards it, clawing and shoulder bashing it. After awhile, he pulled back, furious to see that he had done no damage. He roared in frustration.

And to his amazement, the rock began to show cracks. The cracks were growing more and more like rivers, down the face. Then, fragments of the stone were coming loose and rolling off the main body. More and more began to do so. Bigger, heavier pieces. Until eventually, the whole thing burst to pieces. Coyle ducked away from the flying particles late enough to see a glowing globe of light had shot upwards towards the sky upon the boulder's destruction.

Then, he felt a great jolt. He felt his wounds being healed. Then everything became a blur as he lost control of his body. All he could receive from the outside world were voices- particularly the voice that had spoken to him in the dream.

"Leave these hyenas alone, Hezakiah!" he heard, feeling his own mouth open and speak the words.

"So, you have come back, my master? I have beaten you once in a previous life. I will do it again, and this time I will be sure to imprison you in something far stronger than a rock!" answered a voice that came from all directions.

Sapphire had seen the glowing light force itself into Coyle. She had seen him falling to the ground, and then getting back up again with his eyes shining like the sun, and his wounds healed. Even the scar across his eye that Torres had given him all the way back at Amber Valley, before their journey had even started was gone.

Next she saw a specter of darkness plunging down from the sky, and doing the same as the glowing light had done to Coyle, to a mandrill. In moments, the mandrill had engaged Coyle in combat. But something was different.

The two were evenly matched.

"Why did you want to return here so, Rafiki?" yelled the mandrill as he was forced back a step. His eyes were like black holes in the darkness behind him. And it seemed that he was calling Coyle 'Rafiki'.

"Hezakiah! When will you learn?" replied Coyle in a slightly different voice. He was calling the mandrill by the name of 'Hezakiah'. Then it hit her. The two had been possessed, just like Orion had been. She knew the names of the two in combat- Coyle was now Rafiki, and the shaman was now Hezakiah. But what was the name of the thing inhabiting Orion's mind and body?

"History will repeat itself, old man! You will not win!"

"We shall see my apprentice. We shall see." Coyle and the mandrill continued fighting, blocking, attacking, blocking, dodging, attacking. It would not stop. None of them gained ground, and none of them lost it. They must as well have been stuck to the spot.

Then, then clouds lit up with bolts of lightning dancing across them. Thunder boomed, just like the booming voice that came from above. "Stop this madness, Scar!"

Orion ducked and seemed to cower in fear. The red glow in his eyes grew weak, to a dull pink hue. "M-Mufasa?" he whispered. "My brother?"

Another light appeared, coming down from the clouds. It was heading for Sapphire, and she knew it. But she dreaded the thought. She knew what the spirit was going to do once it had her. It was going to kill the 'Scar' it spoke of- it was going to kill Orion. She tried to hide from it, but she could not. She felt a jolt. She felt her legs give way. She felt her wounds healing ever so quickly.

Then, there was nothing.

Rafiki and Hezakiah had fought their way up to the highest part of lava den- the only part that you would hurt yourself badly if you fell off it. Rafiki was lunging forward, dodging, and recoiling. Hezakiah was using the shaman's staff to its full capabilities.

Mufasa charged at Scar, knocking him onto the ground. Orion's body scrambled up to its feet, and charged back, knocking Sapphire's body back as Mufasa had done to him. The two brothers wrestled with all their might. Slowly, somehow, Orion was being forced back to the ledge behind him. He was losing the fight to Sapphire.

Back at the top of Lava Den, the magic had begun. Rafiki was leaping impossibly high for a lion, dodging all of Hezakiah's black orbs that were sent at him. Coyle felt himself high in the air, then plunging back down to the ground and landing softly. Then he heard a muffled scream, and the sound of a staff being dropped onto stone.

Rafiki had forced Hezakiah off the edge of the rock. Now he was clinging on for his life. The shaman in the form of a lion strode with a sense of contained pride to his apprentice. "History does not always repeat itself."

"We shall see!" yelled Hezakiah, lifting himself back up and soaring up into the air. He was going to land right on top of Coyle, crushing him. But Rafiki had other plans. Coyle's voice roared for Rafiki, and immediately, a vicious storm blew in. The winds were moving at hundreds of miles per hour. All the hyenas below screamed as they were slowly pushed towards the ledge by the wind. One by one, they were forced to grab onto the ledge if they valued their lives.

Mufasa and Scar had done the same. And not even Rafiki could stand the winds. He was holding on to the ledge that Hezakiah had hung from seconds ago in no time at all. Hezakiah, still in mid-air received the full brunt of the gales, and yelled as he was blown away from the ledge, out above clear ground. Then, the ground was rising to meet him all too quickly. In a second, every bone in the body of the mandrill he had used was broken. And Hezakiah was gone for good. The winds calmed.

Immediately after this, the dark coated mandrills fighting the hyenas froze and gasped for air. Their figures began to melt and bubble, turning into black liquid. The fluid at last grew too heavy and liquid-like to support itself, and collapsed to the ground, spilling everywhere.

Even faster than Hezakiah had fallen to his doom, the Great King Mufasa and Scar the Deceiver were battling it out again. But Scar was winning. He pushed Mufasa onto the ground, and raised an arm to strike, claws extended. But before Orion could draw blood, Rafiki had stepped in, and was striking him repeatedly. Scar could not get a paw in, and before he knew it, he was dangling off the north ledge of Lava Den, just as Mufasa had been on the gorge, hundreds of years ago.

"Please, Mufasa! Help me!" begged Scar, glowing red eyes filled with fear.

"I will not force you off like you did to me so long ago… I am not a coward, like you." replied Mufasa solemnly and sternly. Rafiki stepped back and watched on.

"But I will not save you after all the grief you have caused my son… My kingdom!"

"What?" Scar was losing traction. He was slipping. He was going down. Soon he would not have any stone to grip onto- just the air. In seconds, he was falling. His screams echoed throughout the land. Then, he was silenced.

As Sapphire and Coyle came back to their senses and caught a glimpse of two bright lights disappearing into the clouds above, they heard a monstrous sound that, at first, they did not realise. But then they turned to they Grey Mountains and saw them crumbling and collapsing. The ground was shaking violently. They felt the rock that they were standing on tipping to one side. All of a sudden, they were sliding down the rock whose left side had reached the ground.

They both blacked out as they hit the ground.

"**After this final war, the Great Kings of the Past will turn back to the dead land, and give it new life. They will forgive betrayals of times past, and they will bring water, and sunshine, and food back to this dead land. Animals from every corner of the continent will run, with all their might to this land, and they will rejoice, for the suffering will be over, and they will be able to live with content once more, for the curse will be shattered into a million pieces, and the poverty, the plagues, the famines and the droughts will be over, and will never come back. Things will once again be just like they were during the early reign of King Muroasha the Deceiver and they will stay like that forever."**

-5th part of the 283rd prophecy of the Great Shaman Metutu, during the reign of

King Mohatu; Greatest and Highest King That Ever Ruled.


	14. The Path Unwinding

Shadowland

Chapter 14

The Path Unwinding

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way. The characters Simba, Nala, Mufasa, Sarabi, Kiara, Kovu, Zira, Vitani, Nuka, Sarafina, Zazu, Scar, Rafiki, Timon, Pumbaa, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed belong to Disney. Mohatu and Thembi belong to other people. All characters in this story, not mentioned here are my own creations.

"The Circle of Life" (opening and closing poems) was taken from Brian Tiemann's Lion King WWW Archive. "The Circle of Life" was written by Tim Rice.

Shadowland, Chapter 13: 'The Path Unwinding is property of Troy Wong, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.

"**From the day we arrive on the planet**

**And blinking, step into the sun**

**There's more to see than can ever be seen**

**More to do than can ever be done**

**There's far too much to take in here**

**More to find than can ever be found**

**But the sun rolling high**

**Through the sapphire sky**

**Keeps great and small on the endless round…"**

Three lion years had passed since the fall of Torres, Hezakiah, Scar, and the dark mandrills of Shadowland.

Upon the death of Scar, the ground has shaken greatly, and the Grey Mountains had come crashing down. Animals from all over the continent had heard the call, and rushed to Shadowland.

Utopia River's water flow had increased hugely over the past few years. The sun was shining high in the sky, and the clouds had turned from grey to white, like they had been cleansed. Now, everything was normal. It was hot in the dry reason, and it rained in the wet season.

Of course, the hyenas had eventually learnt the truth about Sapphire and Coyle's identities. But that was only after they had learnt the full story of Hezakiah's betrayal. Coyle had made sure of it. And so, the peace was kept.

Kyomaraju, the little wildebeest child had grown into a strong female, who was perfect to fit the role of her tribe's seer. She had overcome her injuries and barriers, and now she was feeling better and more energetic than she had ever been.

Charlotte missed her parents dearly, even to that day. But she knew that the one who had caused their untimely deaths had gotten what he deserved, and she was smart enough not to let it get into her way. Her father had been different in taking the role of the tribe's leader. Normally, bull elephants would not reach the top of the ladder, or even stay with their child to help raise them. Now Charlotte had taken his place as the leader. The herd was living peacefully.

The meerkats of the Mesa tribe had migrated to Shadowland, too. Jasmine and Robert had ended up together in the end, following Chilli's strange change of heart. Against Julia's hope and, quite possibly, dreams, Troy and Stella were still arch enemies. But that was no worry, because nobody liked Julia. Levi and Ruby grew together over time, eventually having their own children, all as rambunctious and playful as Levi, and as good looking as Ruby.

Coyle had become the shaman he was always destined to be; the Second Shaman of Claw. He had learned of the history of the Pridelands, from the ventures of Timon and Pumbaa to the betrayal of Zira. He found out about the laws of King Mohatu, Greatest and Highest King that ever ruled. But most important of all, he learnt of the Great Circle of Life. His day-to-day job was to assist the other shamans on errands and act as an ambassador for everyone else in the land. And whenever someone stepped out of their place, Coyle was always there to keep things in order, by the rules of the Circle of Life.

Gharah had made an astonishing recovery, returning to her throne as the best huntress in the pride. And whose pride was it now? It was Daeon and Ryun, because, without them, Torres would still be alive. The two of them had had four cubs together- two boys, and two girls. Their names were Mazuri, Kiara, Kanye, and Orion.

Standing around Diego, the leopard that had beaten Torres to death, was like being around royalty. Wherever he went, he would not go unnoticed, and he certainly would not be allowed to pass without hearing many cheers and receiving offerings of food and service. But when this happened, he simply refused to accept whatever the people had to give him. He may have been famous, but he was not going to defy his mother's orders: "Never rely on anyone but yourself."

With new herds in Shadowland, and no one to wreak havoc and cause suffering, life was good. Everyone's troubles had soon melted away. Except for one- except for Sapphire.

She knew very well that Orion had died by her own claws. And she knew very well that Orion had been taken over by an evil spirit that the people knew as Scar. She also knew that she was not the one that killed Orion- the only one to blame was Mufasa. It was just that when he did, he had used her body and strength to do it. And she could not be convinced that it was not her fault.

Over the years, her depression had grown stronger and stronger, until it seemed to take over every aspect of her. She could no longer hunt effectively. She was not nearly as energetic as she used to be; in fact, she would remain in her new den for days at a time, only coming out to eat and drink as little as she needed to survive. Sapphire was lost. All that was left now was a sad emptiness where she used to be.

And inevitably, she soon felt the need for her to end it all.

**xxx **

Sapphire looked over the ledge of the Gorge to the other side of the canyon. The wind blew softly, bending the hairs of her coat like the lush, green grass she stood on. Even the bottom of the Gorge was now covered with lovely, soft green grass. The small patch in the middle of the chasm had spread so quickly.

She was going to do it. No doubt about that. She was just a little nervous. She had to convince herself. "Just imagine that there's ground there, and keep walking." She told herself, unsure of her own words. But nonetheless, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and took a step forward.

An inch away from the edge, she heard a voice call her name. "Sapphire, stop!" yelled Coyle, running towards her, over the hill.

He halted as he arrived, a metre behind her as he sense her eyes fly open. She stopped on the spot. "What have you come to do, Coyle?" she asked in a low voice. "Have you come to stop me? You know you won't be able to."

Her last statement stopped him dead in his tracks and shut his mouth.

"I heard you." she continued. "I heard you telling Daeon and Ryun… About your vision." Coyle tried to hide a gasp. "You've seen my falling off the cliff before, haven't you?"

He nodded and confirmed it. Then, he paused. "I won't let you do this, Sapphire. You can't. You have other things to live for."

"What?" She began to argue. "My moping around in my den all day? The bland taste of meat? And if not that… Who? Not you… You're always off, traveling, conferencing with the herds! And Daeon and Ryun are too busy running the pride!" she shouted, tears running down her eyes.

"You have Gharah."

"Gharah no longer had time for me." And with that, she screwed her eyes tightly shut, and took a final step.

"No!" exclaimed Coyle. On his command, powerful winds blew against Sapphire, forcing her back onto safe ground.

But she would not give up just like that. As she began to fight the wind, crawling on the ground towards her goal, Coyle did the same. Their pants and outward groans revealed their efforts.

Sapphire reached the edge a second time, and looked over it, lying on the ground. About to pull herself off the edge, Coyle pounced on her. He dragged her back, while she kicked and screamed for him to let her go.

"No! Let me go!" she pleaded, as if her life depended on it, when it was quite obviously the opposite.

"You can't! I promise you, you will not die here, today, Sapphire! You must not!" he shouted over the gusts, dragging her further and further away from the gap in the ground.

"Do not promise things that you cannot make sure…" she commanded, striking Coyle across the face, He winced and withdrew in pain. The gales disappeared immediately upon his injuring.

Sapphire scrambled to her feet, and rushed to the cliff. She did not wait that time. She just leaped. Coyle rushed after her, but he was too late. All he caught was the air filling the spot where Sapphire stood seconds ago.

Daeon rushed over the knoll minutes later to see Coyle bent over on the ground with his face hidden by his arms. He approached slowly, and asked reluctantly, "Where is Sapphire?"

Coyle brought himself to his feet. No longer hidden by the shadows was the fresh scar across the eye that Sapphire had given him. It looked just like the one that Torres had given to him. The one that had been healed upon his supernatural possession, years ago. His eyes were glazed with tears of sadness. He shook his head slowly in response.

"Did it… Happen?"

Coyle nodded miserably. "Yes…" He gave a heavy, sorrowing sigh. "Daeon, I tried so hard. But whatever I did, I couldn't stop it from happening." He looked his friend in the eye. "Why would they give me these visions if it's impossible for me to change anything? Every single premonition I've had… They all came true. Why would they torture me like this?" A single tear ran down his face.

"Perhaps it isn't just by the will of the Great Kings alone that you receive the images that you see. Maybe it takes more than just one."

**xxx **

And so another of the trio that had brought back the Circle of Life had gone. Sapphire would be missed greatly, but nevertheless, life for others in the land trudged on. And as she joined the Great kings of the Past up above, she was reassured that she would never, ever be forgotten as long as the land survived.

From the day she had arrived on the planet, and stepped into the sun, there was more to see than she could ever see, and more to do than she could ever do. But she had done and seen a fair bit more than many others that she knew. She'd found amazing things. She'd revived the sun and the sapphire sky above Shadowland. The Circle had returned, with its perfect, endless round.

She had found her place on the path unwinding, in the Great Circle of Life.

**xxx **

_Once upon a time lived four cubs. Their names were Mazuri, Kiara, Kanye, and Orion… _

_They were each others' best friends, and they were siblings, too. _

_And when their fifth birthdays came, they would have the adventure of their lives…_

**xxx **

"**It's the Circle of Life**

**And it moves us all**

**Through despair and hope**

**Through faith and love**

**Till we find our place**

**On the path unwinding**

**In the Circle**

**The Circle of Life…"**

**xxx **

**The End. **

**And the Beginning.**


	15. Author's Notes

**Author's Notes! **

**Here we go. Author's notes time. This is the place where I explain how everything happened… Everything from when I had writer's block, to how I came up with the names of my characters. Let's start with chapter 1, shall we?**

**Oh, by the way, this may contain some spoilers for the story. But you should've read through it before coming here, anyway. **

**Ah, yes. I'm pretty sure this isn't allowed, but I'm not sure I care all that much. So if someone could kindly tell me… Oh, fine. I'll just check the guidelines. **

**Chapter 1- Sapphire: **

Ah, yes. The first chapter I had ever written in any proper 'story'. This was pretty corny, in my opinion. Especially how I tried to make Sapphire hate the sound of Kiko's voice… But I rewrote that part, now. Now she doesn't care how he sounds.

With all the names in this chapter, I just made it all up. However, Torres' name was at first going to be Torrens… I think that's a girl's name, isn't it? Oh well. Torres sucks. Heh.

But back onto that rewriting part… In the first version of the hunt scene, Sapphire killed the wildebeest Elder with "a swift, yet strong movement of her right paw." Soulbound kindly spoke to me awhile after I had posted this chapter, saying that it wasn't possible for any lion, however large or strong, to do that. She threatened to "explode and shower me in blood." So I changed it.

I remember putting down many wildebeest Elder names here. I think that I was going to do something more in-depth with them… At least, that's what I had planned. But if you've read my story, then you'll know that I didn't.

**Chapter 2- Judgment: **

Judgment indeed. Despite the fact that it was painfully obvious that Sapphire, Orion and Coyle would be exiled, I reconsidered naming the chapter "Exile", as I didn't want to make it any more obvious than it was already.

I chose Timon to do the quote. You see, Timon's happy, joking; lighthearted attitude contrasted quite a lot with the mood of the chapter, yet, what he says (and did actually say in the motion picture), describes Torres perfectly.

By the way, I do quite like the way Torres killed Kiko… But that's only my opinion. According to the little map that I drew up (as reference… See how I sometimes say that something is north, south, east or west of something else?), the Dark Lands are miles away from Sapphire's den, and would take her until the next morning to get to… Oh, well. None of you have seen the map, have you? Ha!

It was stupid of me to make Sapphire follow Torres to the Dark Lands… Especially since she's apparently "too afraid" to tell anyone else about it. Shyeah, right.

And here I introduce Daeon, Gharah, and Taruwa… At first, they were going to be as unimportant as my wildebeest Elders turned out to be… But, they took on a much bigger role than I had intended them to, in the end. And maybe it was for the best.

Name origins? 'Daeon' was a name used by my friend for one of her characters in a 'fallen angel' story. Sounded nice, so I used it. Gharah was just made up… Well, actually, I was remembering the herd leader of the wildebeests that I had made up (his name was Garahn). But he doesn't appear until the prequel…

Taruwa's name came from the Cirque Du Soliel song, "Taruka". I was listening to it when I was writing, you see.

**Chapter 3- Those of the Savannah:**

Too many characters introduced here. I looked back at this just a minute ago, and slapped myself. Literally.

All names were made up out of scratch, except for the following:

Maloumba: From the Cirque Du Soliel song, "Malioumba"

Kyomaraju: From the legendary Pokemon Kyogre, from Nintendo's "Pokemon: Sapphire"

Diego: The name of a friend of a friend of mine.

Meerca" A lame Neopet. The concept of Neopets… Alright, I won't.

Jasmine: The name of the wild girl character in Emily Rodda's adventure/fantasy series, Deltora Quest (which I now find boring to read).

Robert: The name of Raymond Burone's (sp?) brother in the TV sitcom, "Everybody Loves Raymond".

Hiero: From the word 'hierophant', which is used to refer to a priest of some sort… I'm not entirely sure, though.

Domin: From the word 'dominatrix', which is used to refer to a dominating woman in a relationship. Meh? Check the dictionary for yourself.

Gopher: This was the actual name of the little gopher creature from the motion picture that brought Zazu news from the underground, about hyenas in the Pridelands.

Levi, Julia, Stella, and Troy are all based on real characters. Levi… He's my best friend. Though, he's not that annoying. He's actually quite funny, when you get used to him. Julia is Juli Anne. Yes, she does actually tease me about this girl whose name is Della… Annoys the hell outta me. Stella, is of course, based on the Della in question (Della hates to be called Stella XD!). And, Troy is based on me. The troy you see in that story is **exactly **like me. No joke.

**Chapter 4- Endless Night:**

Sapphire's first pictured prophetic dream… I remember that well. However, it turns out to be quite the opposite, in the end. You'd know. You've read the whole story, haven't you?

I looked at this chapter, and I thought to myself, 'Crap! That was unbelievably cheesy!' – Especially the part where Orion and Sapphire get together, and the end where Juli Anne and I start dancing around crazily… See that little comedy act that the meerkat Troy was doing? I did the same opposable thumb thing with dogs… No, I didn't perform it to dogs. I said that if dogs had opposable thumbs, they'd… Yeah.

The song "Endless Night" was chosen for the quote because it was exactly like the story. Everyone's sad in the night, just like the song is, when the lyrics talk about the night, and things get better in the morning, just like the song does when the lyrics begin to speak of the morning.

I just remembered! At first, it was going to be full off unbearable mushiness, and romance! The quote was going to be from "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" But seeing as I'm hopeless at romance, I changed my mind in the end. Heh.

**Chapter 5- Dawn, Day, Dusk:**

The thing is… When Orion gets caved-in on, at the beginning of the story, he was supposed to come back about a day later… But knowing me and my random storylines, he didn't, until Sapphire and Coyle reached Shadowland. I had decided at one point that he was going to be dead, and gone for good, but then I said, "It's a fantasy. Come on. Bring him back to life!" So I did… But, with a twist! WoOoOoOoOo!

This is where the quotes start to be a little strange. This one doesn't even have anything to do with the chapter. I remember that the chapter was going to be about something completely different at first… Perhaps that's why…

People seemed to like the way I told this chapter, jumping back and forth through time. Honestly, I was afraid that I was going to make a mistake. See, the prophecy of Metutu says that they will travel for six days and seven nights, right? So I had to work within those boundaries. I was worried about forgetting to carry the one when taking away or subtracting, you know? But it doesn't seem to be so important.

**Chapter 6- Spirits:**

What can I say? What can I blame it on? Writer's block? Lack of inspiration? The dreaded writer's block, lack of inspiration combination?

I guess that's what caused this very random, very short chapter to come to pass.

The voice that talks to Coyle in the caves is in fact Coyle's conscience. He was going to be a schizophrenic at first, like Scar, but I got too lazy. No schizophrenia for you, Coyle! When Rafiki speaks to him in a dream, later on, the shaman gets rid of the voice, seeing as it'd cause him trouble in the future, if it were allowed to live on.

The mysterious, cliffie-ish line I ended on, "They were being watched." isn't really such a big deal. It's meant to create that element of mystery to make the reader want to read on, yes, but when you consider that they're only being watched by hyenas, who do not attack them, it's not as dramatic.

Ah, yes. And the bird, possessed by the spirit… Read through the story? Haven't pieced it together? Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. It was Scar possessing the bird. It was a maribu (sp?) stork, if you must know.

When Sapphire finds herself in that white emptiness, the spirit that speaks to her and saves her life is Mufasa. The black liquid that engulfs and threatens to drown her is Scar.

How did they find themselves in a cave after all that? I dunno. Don't ask me. It's not like I sat down and carefully planned all of this. In fact, most of it was made up while I was sitting right here, at my computer desk.

**Chapter 7- Meerkat Manner:**

This was meant to be a comic relief chapter that was there to break up the drama, and lift the spirits. It was also made because my friends who had not yet been turned into meerkats were requesting for them to be put in my 'meerkat story'. So I did. Please note that the digging groups listed in the first scene would not be the same if the same situation were to happen in real life- in real life, we would choose others to group up with. I would most certainly not choose to join up with Juli Anne and hear her "BLAHBLAHBLAHYOULIKEDELLAOMGLOL!11!1" the whole time.

Joshie is based on a guy named Joshua. He's a little weird… He likes to take pictures of himself and make them his MSN chat display picture… Yes. I already told you he's weird.

Matt is another strange friend of mine… Let's just say that he likes crumpets and tea, and we'll leave it at that.

Tino is Tiernan. I meant to give him a bigger role than he had, as he's not only one of my very good friends, but a very interesting character on his own. Oh, well. Shadowland's over. I guess I can't do anything much about that. And no, I'm not rewriting anything unless someone threatens to explode…

Samuel was my best friend. Now he's just a friend. Sam is based on Blessed Samson. Samson is a very talented rapper. I'm not joking when I say that he could make it big in the music industry one day.

Ah, yes. Stella and her little outburst. Her friends call her a homicidal maniac. And she does have a very bad temper… And she once gave someone a black eye without even using her strength. Maybe I've exaggerated here (not maybe, yes), but this chapter is all about exaggeration, in a way (no, it isn't).

I unfortunately ruined the fun atmosphere when I called the wild dogs in to attack my little rodents. Oh, well. I couldn't resist, and I felt that the chapter had to be longer. However, the part where Sapphire and Coyle awake to see the hyenas staring at them was necessary.

**Chapter 8- Cornerstones Shattered:**

Simply put, this chapter emphasizes that without Sapphire, Orion and Coyle, Torres' pride cannot survive, as they are weak. In other words, those three lions that have been exiled were their cornerstones. Now they're all falling apart.

My loyal reader, Nala5 told me that I was very intense in this chapter. Seriously, I wasn't aiming to be intense… Just trying to exercise my supposed 'skills' here. But when you think of it, a wildebeest having a seizure, wild dogs attacking lions, and two kinds of creatures that have never seen anything like the other before meeting would normally be quite intense. So, I guess I did a good job, eh?

You ask for a clearer back-story as to why there are nothing but warthogs, mandrills and a few other creatures in Shadowland? Not telling! Wait until the sequel's released.

By the way, the name 'Shadowland' wasn't just something I came up with, on the spot. I had planned to name that place Shadowland ever since I decided to lead the lions there. Also, the name 'Kalandro' comes from the Cirque Du Soliel song, "Kalandero".

**Chapter 9- A New Chapter:**

Important points:

The lion figure with red eyes that Sapphire and Coyle spot when they're walking into Shadowland is Orion, possessed by Scar.

When Coyle says that he got up while Sapphire was sleeping, and found a strange branch from a tree with things attached to it, he's talking about Rafiki's staff. Rafiki was killed there by Hezakiah, hundreds of years ago, falling to his doom. His staff lived on.

Koori's childhood (the cub mentioned in this chapter) was filled with "carnage and slaughter" I was going to go more in-depth with this one, too, but I didn't have enough time in the story to do so. Maybe I'll do a spin off or something in the future… Just maybe.

This little part here:

- "Pinned. Easily." she proudly announced, looking him in the eye.

'_Pinned ya.' _

Daeon eyed her face and chest carefully. She wasn't even panting. But he could hardly breathe. Before he had opened his mouth to speak, she had cut in.

'_Hey, lemme up!' _-

That's obviously reminiscent of the motion picture, when Nala and Simba pin each other all the way to the graveyard. It was just to give a hint that those two are very much like Simba and Nala, and that they're going to get together, and rule later on.

That large segment that I wrote in italics was Coyle's dream. One of the voices (the evil one) is Hezakiah, and the other is Drawtt, the hyena that he's 'helping'.

How Sapphire got Coyle all the way to the Gorge, keeping him unconscious, I don't know. Flame me. Insult me. I won't tell you, because I DON'T KNOW.

**Chapter 10- Twists and Turns:**

Hmm… I don't have anything to say about this chapter. Really. I just thought that it was a little cliché, myself. Nah, cliché isn't the right word for it… How about the plain and simple, 'bad'?

I'm aware that there's another author active in the Lion King section that has "Rae" in his/her PenName. But the name for the hyena character Rae, that makes his debut in the chapter, does not come from that PenName. I simply made it up.

**Chapter 11- Truth Revealed, Questions Answered:**

Woot! I love this chapter! You know why? Because it reveals the background of the whole story, yet it still leaves enough mystery for me to successfully write the prequel to Shadowland, which will be set in the time of Simba's reign, and appropriately named "The Pridelands"

I didn't just make that up on the spot. I spent months writing a crap story in script form, entitled "The Pridelands" It was the base of the story of Hezakiah and Kiara. But there's more to be revealed.

What I also like here is the quote. Rafiki's obviously speaking good about Hezakiah, saying that he'll make a great difference when he's gone. And that's true, to each word. It's just that Rafiki has no real idea. Whoosh!

**Chapter 12- The Rise:**

The rise indeed! The rise of the Amber Resistance, the rise of the hyenas, and the rise to the climax! Also, Orion's back! Weird! Gasp!

Look, I'm getting quite tired now… Especially from typing. So don't expect too much here.

Perhaps a little on the fantastical side… But that's what fantasy's about. Sadly, there isn't much I can say about this chapter.

**Chapter 13- Only War:**

I had it all planned. Two huge battles. Two ambushes failed. Battle lines drawn- a typical Lord of the Rings moment.

Guess what? I had writer's block. See, this is bound to be crap. But seeing as I haven't received a single review for it yet, I don't know if I'm right, or if I'm wrong. But this came out way cheesy. I know that for sure.

I could have said "Actions figures were being thrown at each other.", and that would probably have been better than what I wrote there. There was no emotion, no personality, no… Nothing. Just fighting, like "Bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh!"

The only part I really liked was when Torres' throat got ripped out. I was re-reading it to make sure there weren't any grammatical errors, as I always do, and I came to that part, and I was like, "YES!" You suck, Torres! Yeah, walk away!

But you do get the ending, right? Lava Den (or Pride Rock, if you must), tips over, and Sapphire and Coyle slide down it, with all the hyenas and… Dead bodies. They hit the ground, and get knocked out. Right? Right?

**Chapter 14- The Path Unwinding:**

So everyone ends up living happily ever after, except for Sapphire, who doesn't live at all…

When I pictured the last scene, I saw Sapphire and Orion up on the point of Pride Rock with Coyle as the shaman, presenting their new child to the Great Kings of the Past. Below were all the animals. Kyomaraju cheering proudly, Charlotte smiling contently, Daeon and Gharah cheering wildly, and the meerkats performing a sort of cheerleading routine.

But as you probably already know, it didn't happen like that. The way I see it, it's quite unfair that only lions could be kinds, and all other animals only got as high as council members. So I said, "Okay, screw the monarchy. That's no way to live! I'll get rid of the kings!" That's what I did. Now, there are no kings. Just a representative for each species that attends a council meeting, and helps make decisions that will affect the whole kingdom. Now that's fair.

I had planned for Coyle to be the shaman all along. His fate was secured, but as for Sapphire's… Well, she was going to live. But she didn't. Heh. Why? Because I felt the need for a twist at the end. It seemed logical, especially after she replied to Coyle, "Yes, Coyle. I need Orion." Just to a more extreme degree.

It seems that I always refer to the song, "The Circle of Life" somewhere in my fanfics… In this case, it was the end. And I liked it. I liked it a lot. I must admit that there were two ideas here borrowed from Amase's "Diamond Star Chronicles" (which, may I say, is fantastic!). The first one was the grass at the bottom of the Gorge. The 'one patch' of grass I speak of is where Mufasa's body decomposed. In three lions years (one human year) it had spread to cover the whole bottom of the Gorge. The other was when Sapphire joins the Great Kings. I'm not going to say anything else here… It might spoil the Diamond Star Chronicles for you.

And that's it!

**Thanks for reading, guys- especially you, Nala5! You rule! **

**You really should check out "Sister Renna" by Nala5, "Rafiki's Tales: Sunset" by MorpheusDreamer, "The Graveyard Chronicles: Shenzi's Story" by Soulbound, and of course, "The White Water Chronicles", and "The Diamond Star Chronicles", by Amase! Woo! **

**Adam's gay. **

**Ah, yes, by the way, keep your eye out for "The Pridelands", coming after the Christmas break, by yours truly. Again, thanks for reading- Until next time! **

**-Troy Wong**


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